An Ever Evolving Love Affair with Stone Washed

Last week I shared the beautiful Scheepjes Stone Washed that arrived in time to start my next project and today I’m showing you how beautiful it is as a garment.

But first, look at the texture.  The colour is just beautiful and the way the stone washed effect works is just ingenious.  The colour is wound around a white core and it really needs to be used in a project where texture is the hero.

Originally, it was my goal to make a hoodie for myself, then to write down and share the pattern with you, for free. As the top has evolved, it became very clear to me that a hoodie is not the way to go this time.  I definitely think that it’s worth exploring in th future, but the Scheepjes was just telling me that it needs to become a classy v-neck, not a summer hoodie.

I made the top all in one piece, starting at the bottom of the front, then working up, over the shoulders, and then down the back.  It makes for a great, almost seamless effect and I’m really happy with it.

Having said that, it wasn’t all roses – there was also a lot of frogging involved trying to get everything just right!  The Stone Washed isn’t the best for frogging either.  Luckily it’s nice and strong, so bears up nicely, but because it’s nice and fluffy sometimes the yarn gets stuck.  But that’s a common problem, not anything particular to the Stone Washed.

I think I’ve finally finished the bulk of the work; the edging looks great.  Here it is, soaking in Eucalan and smelling wonderful – I’m on the home stretch!

Right now the top is all pinned out on the blocking board.  I managed to score a set of Knit Pro Blocking Wires last week when I visited the Scheepjeswol HQ so I’ve used them for the first time on this project.  They could not have arrived at a better time to be honest.  I could just thread the wire through the edges of the top and lock it in place with the blocking pins instead of using about ten thousand pins around the outside.

And the beautiful V-neck, which has become my favourite feature of the top.Now I expect this to take a couple of days to dry properly, considering the weather outside is dark, grey and wet (welcome to summer in the Netherlands) so stay tuned for the big reveal next week (if it’s dry)!