Good afternoon Yarnies!

Have you ever noticed how strange a word Queue is? Just throught I’d throw that out there.

Welcome to the first Tuesday in My Queue! This is where I feature a pattern in my Queue on Ravelry, and talk about why I like it, what skills it uses, what problems might be found with it. For those of you who don’t know, Ravelry is one of the most amazing online resources for knitters and crochet people.

Today’s pattern is Sylvi, by Mari Muinonen. Her website is madebymyself.blogspot.com/.
Link to pattern Some of her best designs, in my opinion, involve cables, and a particular love of mine, which is Irish Knotwork.

First, take a look at Sylvi, up above. I’m sure you noticed her when you came in, but just take another look for a moment. Linger. Go ahead. I’ll wait.

Done? What do you think? Because I’ll tell you what I think:

Gorgeous.

Look at the lines, the flowers, the movement. And gosh, the color! At first I thought the red was almost too much, but I’m thinking that if you’re going to wear something like this, you can’t have it subtle. It has to be out there and bold.

What people have done with this: I think the best examples of this jacket is when the creators went with a single color. For example, this blue one’s vivid color make the shadows that for the flowers really glow.

However, one woman has done it with colorwork, and while it is lovely, I’m not quite sure it’s what I would go for. I think the single color is what makes this design really interesting. The intricacy of the stitches and the cables are really allowed to shine. When you make the project in multiple colors, it’s the colors, then the project, that are seen. The stitches take a second, backseat to the color, and if that’s what you want, that’s fine. But I think that the single color really make the project elegant, instead of just another knit project imitating nature by using flowers a vines. (don’t get me wrong. I love flowers and vines motifs in my knitting. That’s a large part of my queue.

The specs:
Finished bust measurements: (38, 41 ½, 44 ½, 47)” / 86 (97, 105, 113, 120 ) cm
Yarn: 12 (12, 13, 13, 14) skeins Briggs & Little Atlantic (100% wool; 136 yd/124.5 m per 4 oz/113.5 g) in Red
Needles & Notions: size 10 US (6 mm) 16″ (40 cm) and 32″ (80 cm) circulars; cable needle; stitch markers; tapestry needle; 6 large buttons; 5 stitch holders or scrap yarn
Gauge: 12 sts and 16 rows = 4″ (10 cm) in seed st
Construction Notes: Body knit flat in pieces, sleeves knit in the round

So this project is really going to eat your yarn. Let’s just get this out of the way right off the bat. It’s a coat, for goodness sake, so if you didn’t expect that, I’m sorry. It also has a boatload of cables, which also eats your yarn like nobody’s business.

I’d recommend doing this project in a solid or VERY subtle semi-solid yarn. Again, it’s the stitches that you want to pop, not the crazy pooling of a variegated yarn or the color-work from you modifying the pattern.

It’s going to require buttons. I’d go for some wooden ones, just my preference, though I also like what this one woman did with her pink flower buttons.

It looks from notes that the petals are knit separate and then sewn on, which means that if you don’t like seaming and finishing this project, those steps are going to drag.

So tell me my yarnies, what do ya’ll think?