With the name a la mode, it’s no surprise that Lori Versaci’s handknit sweater was actually inspired by a look on the runway at New York Fashion Week. It was few years back that she saw a metallic pullover sweater paired with a stiff, straight skirt. It looked like a kind of fashionable armor. Soon, Lori was mixing pattern stitches and knitting her new design.
The finished sweater is full of texture and intriguing details. Lori chose pebble stitch for the body, which contrasts with the triangle pattern along the sleeves. She finished it off with twin rib for the shoulder saddle, collar and cuffs. The back of the sweater is longer and wider than the front, so that it billows slightly. Lori originally knit her sweater in hand-dyed merino wool, but it was Berroco Captiva that really captured her original vision. “The armor concept was so prominent in my mind. When I found Captiva at my local yarn store, I was thrilled!”
Any interesting stories about your design?
What was most interesting to me was when I went back to find the original photo! A la mode looks nothing like the sweater that I originally saw, but I think that the final product has a similar “feel”.
Do you have any knitting disaster stories?
Dogs tearing apart yarn skeins when you are in the middle of a project and trying to meet a deadline? Frogging a sweater and THEN realizing how you could have fixed the issue that was bothering you without pulling the whole thing out? Getting to the last 2 skeins of a hand-dyed yarn to discover that they are BOTH very different from what has already been knit?
If you could knit something for anyone in the world, who would it be?
Michelle Obama. Her aesthetic is so classic and fashionable at the same time, which is just how I think of my designs. And how cool would it be to have a photo of the first couple wearing one of your designs? I guess I better get on that pretty quickly.
What’s your favorite thing about knitting?
I love the calm that comes over you when you are knitting. It is just so meditative and centering. I feel so fortunate that I essentially knit for a living.
Do you have a cool design you want to share? Or did you recently finish a project with Berroco yarn? You can email Ashley: apalumbo@berroco.com or post it to the Berroco Lovers forum in Ravelry.