Crown Point Hoodie

Crown Point in San Diego is one of B and my favorite places to hang out by the water. Our beaches are busy, but on most days (Fourth of July and the crew races as noteworthy exceptions), Mission Bay is quite and relatively unpopulated. This was why it was an obvious choice for some quality downtime yesterday. Little did I know that it would literally be a perfect place to take my Under the Hoodie FO photos! It's like my hoodie was made for that spot of San Diego. I didn't even realize what a good fit it was until I got home and loaded the photos onto the computer. My hoodie ended up being a perfect reflection of a little sky, a little grass and a little water all rolled into one! So, consequently, my "hoodie" is now my Crown Point Hoodie.

As stated in other posts, I made my Stitch 'n Bitch Under the Hoodie with Elsebeth Lavold Angora. The majority of which was acquired at a deep discount (75% off!). I then spent almost nearly as much tracking down and buying the random hanks needed to actually finish the knitting. But it was worth it. In the end, I used 1 hank of Purple (019) for the accent stripes, 5 1/2 hanks of Lime Green (014) and 7 1/2 hanks of Peacock Blue (006). I have enough coordinating leftovers for a child-sized something or other, so at least they will eventually get used. I planned the knitting so the different dye lots were hidden. The green in the arms was knit in one dye lot and the green stripe was with the other. As for the blue, almost the entire sweater was knit in one dye lot. However, when I was close to running out of the first dye lot half way through the hood, I started splicing the two dye lots together every few rows or so. This let me alternate skeins without having to carry up either side of the hood edge (which would have been very unsightly indeed). (Despite not being 100% wool yarn, Angora spliced brilliantly.)

The pattern itself was very well written and easy to follow. It would be a great knit for an adventurous beginner. There are some interesting constructions to make the pocket and the hood neck line, but nothing that you can't walk yourself through if you are just starting out.

The only alterations I made was to the length. I am l-o-n-g and this is a fairly cropped sweater. But, because it has zero waist shaping, it was easy to lengthen without having to recalculate anything. I decided the easiest places to add the length was in the stripes. To keep them relatively proportional, I doubled the width of the purple accent stripes and lengthened the center green stripe by about an inch. I also lengthened the arms of the sweater by adding the purple stripes which added about an inch to the sleeve length. The stripes were also originally added to help conserve the green yarn, but in the end (after realizing additional yarn was unavoidable), I decided I liked the stripes as a collegiate touch and left them in.

I was a bit concerned about the width of the sweater, specifically because it would create the rest of the arm of the drop shoulder. As I knit and tried it on, it seemed to only come to about 1/2 an inch beyond my actual shoulders, but then as soon as I seamed in the arms, they dropped. Just like they were supposed to! One must have faith I suppose.

I love the fit of the sweater, it is just the right length in the arms and body. Wide enough to be roomy, but still shapely enough not to look like a tent. I've already worn it about 4 times since I finished it last Wednesday night. It even accompanied me to Mammoth where I had originally planned to take the FO photos. I don't know about you, but I think this sweater wanted its photo shoot at Crown Point. It fits right in!