The Unicorn Sweater

Just a little over a week ago, 8 days to be exact, my friend, Denise, sent me a link to a unicorn sweater. If I were choosing sweaters for Addie, I probably wouldn’t jump on that one but I think she would love it so I had to dig around and try to figure out how to buy the magazine and get it downloaded. Figured that out. Then I had to decide on yarn.

Yarn for Unicorn Sweater

The main part of Addie’s sweater is going to be the dark pink (second from left).

The more I looked at the pattern, the more I thought it wasn’t the pattern I was going to use. There’s nothing wrong with the pattern except it isn’t the way I like to make sweaters. First, the back, front and set in type sleeves are made separately and sewn together. In some ways, that makes for a stronger sweater that is more likely to hold its shape because the side seams provide structure . . a framework you might say. But I much prefer to make raglan sleeves, with a round yoke where everything is made in the round. Also, with the type sweater where the pieces are sewn together,  you go back and pick up the stitches for the neck ribbing and I find that my stitches never look smooth when done that way. Another concern is that the colorwork for the unicorn would be done on the front, knitwise and on the back, purlwise. I’d probably not make it if I had to do that. The stitches where the two colors meet, at least on the pattern picture, are a bit obvious.

I’ve decided to make a raglan sleeve, knit in the sweater in the round and go back and duplicate stitch the unicorn. The sweater is going to be a little heavier but I’m not sure what else to do. If the duplicate stitches unicorn is too heavy, she’ll just have a new sweater that doesn’t have a unicorn!

But the debate within my head continues. I have a rather plain unicorn chart that I could put on the yoke and maybe around the bottom. Then I think she would get more wear out of a cardigan . . which means steeking.

I think it’s time just to stop overthinking and do something!