My love affair with NBK‘s metallurgy colorway continues with the Andy Sweater. A cozy, top-down raglan cardigan designed by Junko Okamoto.
If you’ve been following for a while, you would know how much of a fan I am of this colorway. I’ve been knitting with it throughout the years using different bases, from a luxurious shawl in BFL Silk & Cashmere to socks in Merino & Nylon.
Noctilio shawl and vanilla socks in metallurgy. You can read about them here.
It’s no surprise that I would want to have a sweater in it too!
My beautiful Monstera bag is from JHendry Design Co.
I love the moodier tone of this colorway in worsted weight and I searched for a while to find the perfect pattern for it. I wanted something in plain stockinette to show off the variegation.
I came across the Andy Sweater and immediately fell in love! It was exactly what I was looking for. A cozy sweater in plain stockinette. I’ve mentioned before how much I love cardigans and I was excited to add it to my hand knit wardrobe.
But a few things kept me from knitting it right away. It was a one size fit all sweater written for bulky weight yarn.
I’m thankful to my friend, Selma who helped me problem solve this dilemma. She is a beautiful knitter who’s made many modifications to sweaters she knits and shares on her podcast. If there’s anyone who can help me make this work, it’s Selma!
We were sitting at a cafe one day and in the middle of doing a puzzle with the kids when I remembered Andy. I showed her the photo and explained I only had worsted in my stash. I hoped for a magical solution and sure enough, she had one!
Basically, she recommended using the same needle size listed in the pattern (or whichever one got me the same gauge) with the worsted instead of bulky. I’m sure there was plenty more insight offered and I really should have taken better notes because she also managed to factor in my size in her equation. Whatever kind of brilliant math she was working out in her head worked! Thank you, Selma!
I am petite, so I did have to modify the body so that it would be oversized just enough for me. I used German short rows for the wrap and turn section and stopped increasing after Row 16. I was trying it on as I went and as soon as I achieved the ease I was comfortable with, I stopped increasing.
The pattern comes with 2 versions, long and short. I wanted this to be an everyday go-to sweater so I opted for the longer one with mod’s to fit my height. From my scribbles, it looks like I stopped decreasing at 190 stitches, but again, it’s easy to customize this and move on to the ribbing once you’ve knit it at your desired length.
Pardon the dirty car floor in this photo, but I forgot to take a group shot of the buttons I used. I finished knitting this sweater a while back but it took me some time to find the buttons because I had my heart set on army green ones. The pattern didn’t specify what size to get so I just guessed.
I went with the 14mm matte Corozo Button in Khaki from Merchant & Mills. One of the random things I’ve purchased online during this pandemic. I have to say, it has really paid off being subscribed to newsletters these days!
My everyday uniform long before quarantine has always been yoga pants and a t-shirt. Elevated with comfy hand-knit socks for the past few years, and now, I’m slowly adding comfy hand-knit sweaters, too!
I’m so happy with how this turned out! I just love metallurgy so much and now I get to wear it every day! I’m also really excited that I have my own formula down to make Andy again. It’s one of those timeless sweaters you can knit over and over! Maybe I’ll add a pocket to the next one!
// Pattern: Andy Sweater by Junko Okamoto //
// Yarn: Northbound Knitting in Metallurgy //
