My progress on the new version.
I’ve nearly finished re-knitting the Loki jumper by Istex Lopi - and when I say re-knitting, I mean I am making the same jumper in the same colours for the same person. Not because I am crazy, but because I knitted the first one as a present for my husband for our wool wedding anniversary (7th), and he loved it, and then I absentmindedly put through too many spin cycles in the washing machine, and it shrank.
The original one I made in 2022.
I was absolutely heartbroken, I tell you. It was one of the loveliest things I’d ever made, and it was the first jumper I’d ever finished knitting for him - after literally three failed attempts at another pattern over the years. So I promised him another, in whatever colours he wanted. He asked for a replica of the original. Which is nice, because it means I chose well the first time!
And I guess this whole palaver gives me a chance to fix the fact that I installed one of the sleeves back to front on the original, so the increases ran up the outside of the arm.
I love the colours on the pattern cover too. (Image: Istex Lopi)
Some comments on the pattern
I never wrote about this pattern the first time I made it, so I thought I’d share some thoughts.
It’s a good, well-written bottom-up pattern. First you knit the body up to the under arm, then you knit the sleeves, and then you join them to work the yoke. This was actually the first pattern I knitted that was bottom-up, and I loved it - I still love it. The sea of stockinette stitch is an absolute doddle when you’ve got that new-project energy. And you don’t get stuck on sleeve island, because there’s the interesting fair isle to enjoy at the end.
The fair isle pattern is a bit annoying to knit at the start though. Those diamonds at the bottom of the yoke are 7 stitches apart, so the floats need catching, and I find that really slows my rhythm down. I didn’t think this the first time round, because I didn’t have that much fair isle experience at the time, but I’ve knitted a few since then so I know what I like now. That said, once you get past the diamonds, it’s smooth sailing - plus, the decreases begin.
I changed the neckline to a standard rib crew neckline because I prefer the look - I’ll be doing that again this time round.
Some comments on the yarn
I’m making this in Drops Nepal. The first one, made two and a half years ago, came out beautifully, and wore well. However, I’ve heard a few reports that the quality of this yarn has deteriorated, and that it pills a lot now. I’ve made a couple of pieces in the Nepal for myself, and they have pilled a fair bit at the sides. I’m really, really crossing my fingers that this doesn’t happen on this jumper, because that would make it even more devastating that I ruined the one that I made when the quality was still good. Fingers crossed.