About a year ago, I went to the Calgary Fibre Arts Fair, and picked up a skein of Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts Superwash Merino yarn in a DK weight both for the joy of swatching it, and in the hope that I would come up with a design to go with it.
After a few swatches, I knew I had found something special, which I now present to you as the Garneau Top.
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| Photo by Austin Lee for Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts. Used with permission. |
I used stockinette stitch and seed stitch in contrast to work a sort of 'texture blocking' instead of 'colour blocking'. Because the two textures reflect light differently, it gives the subtle impression of two very similar-but-different colours being used, while flowing along with the shaping of the top.
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| Photo by Austin Lee for Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts. Used with permission |
The neckline is what I would term a modified boatneck; a boatneck in essence, but made more comfortable to wear with short-rows being used to raise the shoulders slightly. Short-rows are also used in the body of the sweater—as the two stitch patterns have different row-gauges, working the short-rows counterbalances this to make for an evenly worked piece. The top is worked from the bottom-up in the round up to the armholes, then worked flat for the remainder, as are the sleeves, which are then set-in during finishing. The Garneau Top pattern is available for Women's sizes XS (S, M, L, XL, 2X, 3X).
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| Photo by Austin Lee for Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts. Used with permission |
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| Photo by Austin Lee for Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts. Used with permission |
I really enjoyed working with Ancient Arts to bring you the Garneau Top, which is named for a neighbourhood in Edmonton that I always enjoyed walking when I attended the University of Alberta. I pictured it as the perfect place to head out for a stroll with the handsome dog that the yarn is named for: Weimeraner.
Now, a word about this brilliant colour, which I loved for the way it presented so many different grays with so much depth:
Weimeraner is one of the several amazing colourways from the Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts Woof Collection. When you buy yarn from the
Woof Collection , a portion of the proceeds is donated to the Best Friends Animal Society, which benefits stray and abandoned dogs. Now, I'm a dog person, but if you prefer cats to dogs? No problem; the
Meow Collection benefits cats, and I think the Garneau Top would look excellent in Blue Persian too. A variety of other colours awaits in
Superwash DK; I recommend Semi-solid colours for this pattern.
Buy the Garneau Top Pattern at the following links from:
Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts or through
Ravelry, and the yarn from
Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts.
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| Photo by Austin Lee for Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts. Used with permission |
