Saturday, October 14, 2006

Fall Shrug FO

I tried on this Eileen Fisher shrug last month. I liked the simplicity of the design very much, but not enough to spend $258. The yarn was certainly soft, but I find mohair itchy. Plus, at that price, I felt like it should have been manufactured in a higher wage country. (Click here to read an article about the workings of the Eileen Fisher supply chain.)

I set out to make my own. Ann had sent me some oddball yarns and I fell in love with the soft feel of cashmerino. I bought 6 balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino aran in light lavender from Beach Knitting in Manhattan Beach and set to work. I wanted a shrug with full-length sleeves with a cable detail at the cuff. I ran out of yarn. I stopped by the Slipt Stitch in El Segundo and bought a 7th ball in another dye lot, but it was a perfect color match anyway. (Cashmerino aran is $8.50 per ball at BK and $7 per ball at SS.)

I scanned the sleeve so you can see the braided cable detail.

The shrug doesn't resemble the EF one by the time I tweaked it to suit me. But it makes a nice bedjacket while I recover from the cold. (Please ignore the messy house. I am sick and my husband just got back from a week-long field trip.)



Addendum
My sister asked for my pattern so I wrote it up and scanned in my schematic. Leave a comment with your email address if you also want it.

Her real-life neighbor, Penny, had the same idea. Read what she did on her blog.

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous06:36

    Great shrug. I like the cable detail and it looks very cosy (on this cold morning in the NE)

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  2. looks great, Grace! I am a sucker for Eileen Fisher, even though half the time I am saying, I could make this myself! You actually did it though - kudos to you! And yes, I would love the pattern.

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  3. Hi I would love this pattern, marthabilski@macdot com

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  4. Anonymous15:02

    I googled for the VK Gaughan sweater (which I'm now assembling, so I was trawlin for others' FOs), and continued reading. Natch, I have the same feeling about Eileen F's knitwear, and I would love to see your shrug pattern.

    Best,
    Allison in Philly
    akelseyATjunoDOTcom

    ReplyDelete

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