Inspiration
A Summery Knitalong: Granito!
Now that summer is upon us, Kay and I are getting our hot-weather knitting plan firmly in place. Front and center is the Granito pullover by Joji Locatelli—her elegant, soft sweater has lurked in our imagination ever since we saw it in MDK March Mayhem.
We hereby declare a Granito Knitalong—a low-key, use-your-own-yarn-or-get-some-from-us knitalong. We’re aiming for Labor Day as the finale for this thrilling event.
We brought this yarn into the MDK Shop because we wanted to make this sweater with the yarn Joji specified for it. Manos del Uruguay is a wonderful, nonprofit yarn company; their new yarn Milo is merino and linen, which seems like a good idea.
Of the shades we’re carrying, Potosi is my choice. Because it is gray.
A silvery, very pale gray.
It knits on a size 4, which means the fabric is remarkably lightweight. Manos del Uruguay calls this a DK weight yarn, but I wonder if a knitter with stash on hand could get 23 stitches to 4 inches gauge with fingering weight yarn. It’s a pretty small gauge, really.
This is going to be a lovely piece once it’s done. There are sweaters you make for the drama of it all, and sweaters you make because you want very much to wear them. I can’t wait to wear this.
It is a stockinette sweater, with clever construction moments along the way but nothing Hard about it.
The thing about a simple sweater like this is that you want to have it in a rotation of projects. Maybe you can crank a stockinette sweater in pale pale gray on size 4 needles in one awesome spasm of knitting. But I like to make a project like this part of a collection of projects—Romi Hill’s Talmadge Cloche for this month’s Year of Techniques is about to be my next cast on, and it is fancy and lace and small needled. Throw in a batch of Euroflax Mini Skeins for a color-crazy scarf, and suddenly I’ve found myself in a perfect loop of easy/challenging, don’t look/have to look, neutral/colorful, sweater/hat/scarf. It just doesn’t get better than that.
How to Get in on This Granito Knitalong
Get the pattern. Joji’s Granito is available straight from her, right here.
Get yarn. We have a rapidly dwindling supply of Manos del Uruguay Milo, so if you’re interested, please head over to the Shop now. If you’d like to use your stash, Ravelry’s Yarn Ideas for Granito shows you what other knitters have been using. (Yarn Ideas is one of the most amazing things about Ravelry. You really get to see what works and what doesn’t. Fascinating way to learn about yarns and what’s appropriate for a project.)
Commence knitting. We’re aiming for Labor Day, September 4 as a goal for completion. We’re terrible at these goals, either overachieving or not achieving at all. Is this lame? We know. But this is a ballpark estimate of when we’ll wrap up. Given the stockinette-intensive pattern, we think this is plenty of time.
Share and discuss in The Lounge. Here’s the topic set up for conversation about Granito, yarns, techniques, and whatever else you’d like to discuss.
Come on, all you stockinette enthusiasts—this one’s for you!
I’M SO IN. I’ve had my first skein wound for 2 weeks; just waiting for a magic moment of fortitude to do the bit at the top where you get the neck all organized. After that, Granito is going to be my knitting-bag drag-along pal all summer. Please save me a few yards of your Potosi so that I can have contrasting pocket liners for my dark gray (Manchester) Granito.
How did I never notice the yarn ideas tab? That is fabulous!
I love this sweater and would love to join. Is there a rule about not starting a second KAL before you’ve finished the first? I would think those sorts of rules don’t apply in M-D Land.
You get us, Amy. My only rule is just keep knitting.
I love this sweater so much. And it would be great for anyone doing #summerofbasics, too, btw!
Oh, brilliant, Karen. Totally making this my #summerofbasics effort.
I like the sweater but was wondering what is our feeling on this sweater for, umm, busty women? I’m worried that with 6-8″ of positive ease it might look a little too tent-like on me.
Sometimes I look through projects on ravelry to see if anyone with my body shape has made the garment, or to read through the modifications people have made to a particular pattern. There are 307 Granitos listed…maybe you can find something helpful. Can I leave a link here? I will try:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/granito/people
Good luck!
I do this too – it’s quite useful! On balance, MJ, if you don’t love math, this may not be the sweater to invest a lot of stockinette time in. It’s a lovely garment but I don’t think it’s a slam dunk for those of us with boobs. FYI – Jane suggests short rows (which are a great idea – if yet another fussy thing to mathematically sort out). I find, given that I am small everywhere but in my boobs, that short rows are rarely necessary. I just add an inch or 2 of length in the bust area (and I generally remove an inch or 2 below the bust and above the hip, given my torso length). Because I’m short waisted, it all ends up working out. But again, my shape facilitates this. I don’t think it would work as well on a broad frame with a long waist.
Thanks, Quinn. I’m off to look through all the projects and see what it looks like on people.
It’s a good question, MJ. I’m no stylist, so I’m not sure how this shape would work. Anybody out there have a thought about this?
I think the key would be to make sure that it fits perfectly in the vertical proportions, sleeve circumference and shoulders (though I see it’s drop sleeve, there’s “tailored” drop sleeve and then there’s huge…) As a short, small person with a proportionately large, projected bust (I wear a US 6/small with a bust of 32 FF/G – or 31 inch underbust and 39″ full bust), I can make most any sweater “fit well” by ensuring that my gauge is spot on (post blocking, of course) and I don’t believe in 6 inches of ease under any circumstances. 2-3 inches will suffice – generally, I go with no ease, even in a sweater of this shape, because fit in the bust will undercut the tentness of the rest of the shape. I often re-work the pattern stitch counts to meet my needs. Alas, sweater knitting with my shape – narrow but busty – takes a lot of math. But it’s worth it in the end.
Another way you could go about it is to knit the sweater a couple of sizes smaller than your full bust size – but that’s a dangerous game unless you’re really familiar with fitting and knitting. I can do this because I’m pretty small everywhere other than the bust. I don’t know that this would work on a broader frame.
Thanks K Line excellent summary for the larger busted and there is possible for a few short rows st the full bust section
Thanks, K-Line for your advice. I will ponder it some more. I think I need a large in the bust but a medium everywhere else. Math. Well, math and I are not the best friends. More like frenemies.
Ok, I’m in too! I have yarn at home already. I had been thinking about knitting Boxy, but wasn’t 100% sold on it. Granito looks like a great alternative! Slouchy, but not as oversized!
Kay is all about the Boxy, too, and thinks this is a good cousin to that pattern.
That sounds perfect then!
I’m in, too. But! I am a 34 B bust, I’m small ( took me almost 70 years to realize that), so do I do small or medium? I am making it a little longer .
Help!
I can’t wait to start this one! I’m in too…looks like a lot of fun to knit and great when you need just a relaxing knit to turn to when you have some challenging ones also going on.
Hi. I’m new to knit alongs and am looking forward to making this sweater. I have an allergy to wool (all animal fibres) and I’m having difficulty finding a non-wool yarn to use. I have checked the yarn idea tab on Ravelry but all the yarns seem to have some wool in them. Does anyone have a suggestion of a yarn to use?
Caroll,
If you can’t use any animal fibers at all, you’re probably already familiar with some of the options available. You might look at Quince & Co’s Willet (cotton) or one of their linen yarns. Others that come to mind are Elsabeth Lavold’s Hempathy and Knitpicks Lindy Chain. I think you’re going to want a yarn with some drape, which suggests linen or silk content.
Another option might be a cotton / acrylic. I’m currently finishing a sweater out of Debbie Bliss “Juliet” which is a sportweight cotton / acrylic blend that has a tweedy appearance. After careful steam blocking to “kill” the acrylic, the sweater has a really nice drape. Unfortunately, the yarn is discontinued but there are similar ones out there. Jean
Yarn arrived today – Milo in colorway Potosi (nice color choice, Ann). Softer than I thought it would be considering the linen content. I am going to swatch tomorrow AFTER I finish the last half of the second sleeve on my Fine Sand…which I am knitting furiously on to finish so I can start Granito for car knitting on an upcoming road trip.
Hope all you experienced knitters can help! I have just started this and am a little confused. Once the first lot of “short rows” (four, I think; sorry, don’t have the pattern with me), do you just do plain stockinette from side to side until the garment measures 19cm or 6″. Your advice would be appreciated. Thanks