You know sometimes, you see a pattern and just fall in love with it right away? That’s how I felt when I saw the Liana Sweater by Irene Lin. A classic polo shape with a nice colorwork detail, it just called to me. I knew I wanted to make it, I just didn’t know which yarn to use.
Isn’t that a whole other part of knitting? Choosing the yarn and getting started? It feels like another project altogether! Anyway! I went to my favorite knitting shop, Espace Tricot, with my husband and I saw some BEAUTIFUL and bright colors that were exactly what I needed.
At first, I was going to make the sweater in a more natural palette, but when I saw the neon pink and yellow, I just couldn’t leave them. The pattern calls for a DK weight yarn, but looking at the gauge and needle size, a fingering weight is also good.
The colors that caught my eye were from Emilia & Philomène, the Joséphine yarn. The yellow is called Andy Warhol and the pink, Stay home. As the main color, I wanted something calmer and went with the Camellia colorway. To complete the colorwork section, I chose two skeins of blue. One called Cobalt from Julie Asselin Fino and one called Tiffany Blue from Bar à Tricot Cognac.
I indulged in these yarns, even if the quantities needed were smaller than a 100g skein because I knew I would love knitting all those colors.
I think it is the first time that I buy yarn for a specific project but am also planning what to do with the leftovers at the same time!
Let’s not dive into leftover projects yet. Going back to the Liana sweater, it was my first time knitting a polo type collar. I was skeptical but followed the instructions closely. Isn’t it fascinating to see something take shape and finally make sense?
As with every new knitting pattern, the beginning was slow. I did not want to miss an increase or do the wrong thing. However, once I started the colorwork section, I was on a roll! The motif is easy to follow and memorize. It was delightful to knit and I loved seeing all the colors coming along.
I did some modifications in the color placement. Because I want to make my Liana long-sleeved, I was afraid of running out of the main color. I replaced the main color sections in the pattern with other contrast colors. I do love how it turned out!
I am now at the part of the body where I just keep knitting stockinette in my main color until I do the bottom ribbing. While not the most exciting part, I feel like I have almost finished the sweater. I know it is only an illusion as I have two sleeves to knit too, but every feeling of accomplishment is welcome.