The Lately Pullover Was the Textured Knit I Needed

The Lately Pullover from Shannon Cook is recently off of my needles and, sadly, in storage for the very first semi-cool here in central Texas. Really, I just need a breeze to blow through my yard, and it will be back out of the sweater box in a flash. In case you can’t tell — I’m excited about this sweater test knit.

What Makes Lately So Special that I Would Take On Another Test Knit?

I always say I don’t have time to be a good test knitter and the fear of failing to complete the knit on time is stressful enough to keep me from asking to test things. Then I see that certain sneak peek on an Instagram account, and the next thing I know I am filling out the form or sending the message and tromping upstairs to dig through the stash.

Lately was one of those siren sweaters that pulled me out of my knitting complacency and literally forced me to reach out. It was beyond my control. This one has the combined promise of great texture and interesting, of-the-moment detailing that I couldn’t pass up the chance to test knit.

All the Texture I Could Want

I can only work on so many knitting projects like socks and stockinette tops before I begin to miss cabling. As winter weather nears, I feel homesick for cables and heavier-weight yarn. (We will overlook the fact that this test call came in the spring.) You may remember that I spent much of my winter either working on sock projects or crocheting gift blankets, so the cabled sweater fix I needed was put on hold for months. Basically, I earned this!

Stashbusting Doesn’t Hurt

I also justified the added responsibility of testing with the fact that I would be using older stash that needed a purpose. I wanted to make this sweater in a classic sweatshirt grey but decided to use some Blue Sky Fibers Woolstok Worsted (in the October Skies colorway) because the amount I had on hand better matched the yardage requirements of the project than my grey yarn.

This isn’t to say I didn’t love the blue colorway. I do, but it seemed a mature decision to not use the grey stash yarn that would leave a lot of excess taking up space in the dreaded yarn closet. I really don’t like having a lot of leftovers of a good yarn that is too small a quantity to easily find a use. I have a couple of boxes full of those leftovers that get tripped over. So, Woolstok Worsted it was.

Now for the Details on My Lately

I knit my Lately with US size 5 and 7 needles and the aforementioned Woolstok Worsted. I chose the 43.5″ chest size to allow for at least 5+” of ease. I also added one repeat of the Quail Stitch pattern to make sure I had enough length for my torso. Because of that, I ended up using a bit more yarn than projected for my pattern size.

A Planned Length Modification

I usually factor an extra inch into the torso of my sweaters because I have a long torso and hate that itchy, tickly feeling when the hem of a sweater rides up above your waistband and scratches at your skin. This is a thing; you do know what I’m talking about, right?

However, the Lately Pullover is supposed to hit at the high hip and it looks really cute at that length, so I planned to deal with the Sweater-Ride-Up Factor because the Cute Factor always wins.

Even with a shorter body length, I thought my shortened length would probably need to be an inch longer than the sample. However, my high hip might be about an inch higher than the average person’s, so I planned an extra repeat of the main cable stitch pattern. That’s where things got weird.

Rogue Gauge Strikes Again

I mentioned in a recent vlog I co-hosted with Chat GPT (aka the man of my dreams) that stress can change a person’s knitting tension. I also admitted that my tension changes on a dime, like just because it’s Tuesday. So, though I was religiously checking gauge in the beginning, my zealous attitude fizzled out when we had to take an unexpected trip and the tense knitting began.

I think I remember at some point on the drive home that I felt like I was knitting more tightly than normal. I took a few deep breaths and tried to chill, hoping I’d only been doing that a few rows. It was hard to get a good gauge on the cable pattern, but my ribbed section seemed good.

I was surprised to find, after blocking, that the pullover came out to near the pattern length. My stress knitting seemed to have eaten up most of my extra inch of pattern repeat. So much for being a studious and careful tester. I always feel bad when I lose track of the gauge on a test knit. It’s like my one job!

All’s Well That Ends Well

Even though I goofed up my gauge a little, I can’t feel too bad because this sweater is just too good to feel overly burdened with gauge guilt. I was oohing and aahing over it as I spread it out on the table to block, with Hazel’s help, of course. The sleeve length was perfection and that hem…

Stuff I Love About Lately!

Besides the obvious: cables, there were a lot of special, little details that I noted as I knit. And so I’m sharing those notations with you, my friend.

I Always Appreciate a Neat Underarm

I liked the way Shannon handled the underarm area of the sweater. This is a place that can be a little sloppy or ill-fitted in a sweater pattern. I can’t count how many times I’ve had to go back into a sweater and “fix” that area with duplicate stitches or ripping back, etc. So I appreciate a pattern where I get past that section and think, ” Wow, that went well.”

Sleeves I Actually Wanted to Knit

These sleeves were truly a fun thing to work on. They weren’t boring, due to the bit of cabling along the side, and were a great knitting companion for subtitled shows and conversational knitting. To repeat that vastly overused phrase: they flew off the needles! And they really did. Even with very little knitting time due to my trip, I think both were finished in 3 or 4 days!

That Glorious Drawstring

I have said before that each of Shannon’s designs has at least one neat technique in them that I remember learning or making with unusual pride (like the one-row buttonhole in Antrorse). For the Latelly Pullover, that technique was definitely the drawstring.

Look, I love the ingenious nature of I-cord, but come on … the I-cord can feel like an ever-repeating mythological torture sometimes, especially when it comes at the very end of a knit. Not so with this drawstring! It was over during one quick episode of The Office.

It was actually fun to make and also made me feel more clever than I really am. These neat little techniques make her designs even more of a resource than just instructions for one knitted item. I can apply this method to any drawstring I make in the future.

Which of Shannon’s Patterns Will I Be Making Next?

If you’re wondering which of her patterns I want to make next check out my vlog on Lately and the notes here on the blog. I list the things I have been pining for on her Ravelry page. But, the next one I will be making is another Lately Pullover. Yep, and this one will be in the grey yarn I mentioned earlier — the one that will leave a good bit in the stash closet. I can only be so mature.

At least I am using yarn I already own. The urge to look for a wool/cotton blend in grey was so strong I had to talk myself down from an online purchase this week. The cart stayed in an extra tab on my screen for half a day before my good sense prevailed. Baby steps …

Discover More about My Lately Pullover

Check out My So-Called Handmade Life Episode 70: The Lately Pullover & Other Faves for more info on the making process and how I feel about other knits from this designer. If she does host a knit-along for this sweater her Instagram is the best place to find out about it. Who knows, we might be knitting this pullover together before the end of the summer.