Anthos' Striped Sweater

Of the three colors I dyed with Kool-aid, I still had the two reds made from Black Cherry and the mix with the leftover Blue Lemonade water. I really kind of liked the way they looked together on their skeins, so I thought a striped sweater might look really cool. Anthos' first sweater is a very simple and classic look, and I wanted to make a longer one anyway.

To get inspiration I googled striped sweater and saw the one above in black and white which would work nicely I thought for my two reds. Unlike the first sweater which was worked as a long rectangle and seamed, this one I would need to work in the round to get the horizontal striping right.

First I used the dark solid black cherry red to make a long strip (3dcs) for the bottom of the sweater, then seamed it up one side and started working along the long side in the round joining my rows at the end so that the stripes would also line up right.

I worked two alternating rows of each color in hdcs around for several stripes, each time putting it on him to where I liked the length of the bottom of the sweater to fall. Then I had the challenge of making arm holes while still working in the round and keeping the stripes in line. I decided to do this with a 10 chain space and skipping 3 stitches, then working the next rows onto the chain while slip stitching along the top to make sure the rows still lined up around the arm holes. I could have stopped and turned and worked the back and then gone back in and worked the center, but I knew that would mess with the color gradient that was happening on each of these skeins too.

After the arm holes were done, I was able to back to making complete round rows which worked out great. I did one more stripe and then did the rest of the top in the light red only, just like the inspiration sweater. Finally I went back to the arm holes and made super sort sleeves in the dark red to match the bottom trim.

You can sort of tell the rows apart but I guess the colors, though they looked really different wound, were actually almost too close to tell apart when worked. In any case I still can see the difference from the bottom to the top, so I still like the way it turned out.

I also super love the length on Anthos compared to the first one. And of course I still have plenty of both colors, so I might try to make a red-riding-hood-esque cape next time.

Not quite fall here yet... those leaves are dead from drought.

Time to complete: 8 hours
Difficulty: Easy+