Pattern Notes: Marseilles Pullover

Marseilles pattern notes at last! I've been done with this sweater for two weeks and have worn it on several occasions already. At this point it feels more like an old friend than a new sweater. Sunday was Moxie's birthday, so we got up at a decent hour and immediately packed the Zosh into the car and headed over to Eaton Canyon in Pasadena for a morning hike to the waterfall. If you are ever in the area, this is a great hike if you prefer less strenuous activity and gorgeous scenery. It starts out in a sunlit wash full of wild flowers and cacti, and then moves through a wooded canyon along a stream for about half a mile to the waterfall. The most difficult aspect of the hike is navigating back and forth across the stream. It's accessible enough that a lot of families hike this trail. At the end, you can sit in the shade and enjoy the beauty of the waterfall.

Marseilles on our hiking excursion to Eaton Canyon with Zosia.

Marseilles Pullover
Designed by Kathy Zimmerman, Interweave Knits, Summer 2006
Knit with nine skeins (147 yards/skein)* of RYC Cashsoft DK (57% Merino/33% Microfiber/10% Cashmere) in Madame (fuchsia) (511), using size US 6 and US 7 Addi Turbo circulars.
Gauge: I'll check my notes soon. Promise.
Size: 38 bust. For me, the final blocked dimensions were 40" at the bust and 25" in length. Unblocked the sweater was closer to 39" at the bust and 23" in length. I made modifications that added drape, but regardless you should plan for growth. See below.

Smiling, but really cold as hell.
The waterfall is fed by a mountain stream.
The Pattern:
This was my first Kathy Zimmerman sweater, surprisingly enough (I love cables, and cables are what KZ does). It will not be my last. This pattern was extremely well-planned out, harmonious, and nicely executed. You can tell that Ms. Zimmerman either is or has an excellent tech editor - I'm guessing that the former is the case. There are no errors that I could spot in the size 38, and the only thing that I would suggest changing is the number of stitches that you reserve for the shoulders. The boat neck, as written, is not even close to workable for me, nor was it for my best friend, Laura, who made the sweater in the size 34 in RYC Cashsoft Aran. My bloggy pal Marie also made the Marseilles Pullover and followed my suggestions on the boat neck, so unfortunately I can't point to anyone I know on the internet who worked the shoulders/neckline as in the original. (Definitely check out Marie's gorgeous sweater and the awesome montage she put together for us.)

In both dk and aran weights of RYC cashsoft, the neckline was too wide for Laura and I. The instructions have you bind off the center neckline stitches and reserve the shoulder stitches on stitch holders so that you can do a three-needle bind-off of the shoulders when both the front and back are done. Since Laura warned me that the neck was too wide, I opted to keep all the stitches live until both pieces were done, and then played around to see how many stitches I needed to bind off to make the shoulders the perfect width for me. [Go to one of my previous Marseilles posts for photos of this process. Notice the two circular needles hanging from the neckline.] My definition of the perfect width is the point where the sweater is still technically a boatneck, but you can't see my bra straps hanging out. On the size 38 sweater that is twenty-four stitches per shoulder. The original pattern would have you use thirteen stitches per shoulder, so rule of thumb if you want shoulder-width like mine is to add eleven stitches to the number suggested for your size in the pattern and tweak from there. Once you've done the three-needle bind-off on the shoulders, you can simply cast-off the neckline stitches in the round.

A shot of the garter ridge that runs up the side seam.

Clever and simple.
This is not a beginner's cable pattern. There isn't any complex shaping, but the cable pattern itself is complex, particularly because some of the diamonds are filled with garter stitch. The garter creates a really pretty effect, but until you get the hang of it, working these sections is counter-intuitive, especially on the wrong side. The chart is correct. Follow it verbatim and you'll have a gorgeous sweater - I 've also included some tips of my own below.

One neat technique used in this sweater is a garter-stitch seam. It's interesting because it is very, very simple to seam, and the resulting seam is loose enough that if you leave extra-long tails on either end, you can stretch the seam after you finish it, so that it has the same resilience as the knitted portion of the sweater. It's also very pretty and decorative. Although it wouldn't work for me in every situation, here it mirrors the garter sections within the the cable diamonds nicely.

All laid out and ready for wear.Techniques:
Advanced cabling with garter filled diamonds. Minimal shaping. Cool garter-ridge seam (see above).

Modifications:
I substituted a DK weight yarn for the worsted weight Goddess Yarns Phoebe called for in the pattern, so I ended up having to make some adjustments for my row gauge. (My stitch gauge was pretty close to the pattern, surprisingly, and definitely close enough to ignore.) I added a half repeat (notice that my version ends at a different point in the cable pattern at the neckline than Laura's does), and re-worked everything to make the armscyes the correct length on the body pieces. I was able to keep the pattern exactly the same as the original for the sleeves. How's that for serendipity? Sometimes, things just work out well.

Here's a good tip: Use a crochet hook as a cable needle. This is my new thing. When you screw up the garter segments inside the cables you can just whip out the crochet end of the needle and ladder those stitches into the correct orientation.

Finishing:
Easy peasy. Those garter ridge seams go very quickly and make adjusting your seam tension a snap. I washed and blocked per usual, in tepid water in the sink with eucalan, spun the pieces in the washer to remove excess water, and laid them carefully on towels to dry. The big trick here is not to let the pieces stretch too much when you gently squeeze water from them or transport them. There is the potential to end up with a very big sweater if you're not cautious while the pieces are wet.

Enjoying the great outdoors.Impressions of RYC Cashsoft DK:
I used this yarn for my Clementine sweater in fall of 2005, and really enjoyed working with it both then and for the Marseilles Pullover. This yarn is not the one used in the pattern, and because it is a DK weight rather than a worsted, using it requires some adjustments. This substitution is entirely unnecessary, as the Goddess Yarns Phoebe used in the original is a great yarn that would work nicely without modifications. I just happened to have the Cashsoft hanging around in my stash, and wanted to use it to clear out room for future yarns. Due to the cashmere content, the RYC Cashsoft line, like the very similar Debbie Bliss Cashmerino line, will show wear almost immeadiately. If you are pill and halo averse, go with the original yarn or a nice merino instead. The Cashsoft works just fine for me, but it does not have a pristine appearance.

Possible substitute yarns:
There are about a gazillion substitutes out there for the Goddess Yarns Phoebe used by Kathy Zimmerman in the original. I personally think that if you are going to purchase yarn, sticking with the Phoebe is a fine choice. The alpaca content will give it drape and durability, and the price is good. If you substitute, I'd recommend a nice alpaca or merino worsted. My beloved Jaeger Extra Fine Merino DK (a heftier DK than the Cashsoft) would be a good choice, and Karabella's Aurora 8 could also do the trick quite nicely.

Tips & Tricks: Although there really aren't any errors that I could spot in my size, I do have several suggestions for making your Marseilles Pullover successful:

She who climbs up must climb down...First, be aware that the gauge swatch you make is not going to grow to the same extent that your sweater will. On cabled sweaters this is always the case, because once your knitting reaches a certain heft, gravity is going to kick in and create added drape. This feature will not show up in your swatch because it is substantially smaller and less hefty. Additionally, the sweater has no cables in the sleeve pattern and the sleeve pattern is the pattern used to establish gauge, so the swatch will have even less drape and growth than it would if it were in the cable pattern. So, use the swatch as a guide, and be sure to wash and block it, but realize that you will very likely get an inch or two of growth in the body of the sweater. You can compensate for this by subtracting half a repeat, if you are very petite and think it necessary. Just remember to adjust the pattern so that the armscyes fall at the right place proportionately. I re-gauged the sweater to work with DK weight yarn, and also wanted more length, so I added half a repeat.

Blow up the cable chart, make several copies, and code and color the copies if it will help you. I did. The set up row is tricky, and I find that it's easiest for me to just write out the number of knit and purl stitches to work for that row across the bottom of the chart. I still had to knit each set-up row twice, but I would have had to knit them about five times if I hadn't written out the stitch counts for myself.

Use a crochet hook as a cable needle. This is my new thing. When you screw up the garter segments inside the cables you can just whip out the crochet end of the needle and ladder those stitches into the correct orientation. I made much use of this trick. The fact that the cables have garter inside in some cases makes this pattern a little challenging and unintuitive to work in the beginning. You will have to reign in your instinct to purl every time a purl stitch pops up in the row below in those sections. It's tough!

Some Parting Shots: