The Yoshi sweater

This weekend was supposed to see Lila finished, pictures taken of sweater and bf socks and more socks, but nothing happened. I've become stuck, or more precisely, my neck. I've noticed that sometimes my body tenses up while I'm knitting. Not just lightly, but my jaw will be clenched, my shoulders are rolled forward, my head is bend down. I have to constantly tell myself to relax and sit properly, straightening my back and shoulders the way I do when I'm not knitting. But unless I hold up my hands level with my eyes, the head droops. Shoulder muscles turn into steel blades, neck and head aches ensues. And sometimes, a vertebrae gets stuck. It's time to see the chiropractor. Until then, not much knitting.
But I did a little bit of packing and stumbled upon the sweater that marked the re-entry into knitting fever two plus years ago. A sweater I made up from scratch, using Peruvian wool and Rowan Kidsilk Haze stranded together, inspired by this Yoshi Yamamoto design:

It was described as a two piece, and I thought it would be very easy to copy. Knit a top, then a looong scarf seamed up at the ends to create sleeves. Here is my version:

Even though I've been knitting since I was little, it's only in the past two years that I've learned more about yarn and its properties and different knitting techniques. Had I known then what I know now, I would have used a thinner, and stiffer wool for this project, or maybe just mohair double stranded. I would have tightened my stitches to eliminate the 'ladders' you can see in the sleeves (the arms were knit in the round, as was the top). Or I might not have knit the sweater at all, as it is too warm for this here climate and requires a lot of fussing to have the wrapped shawl look good and stay put. Which it only does if you stand perfectly still.


The armscarf is about 11' long and knit in garter stitch while the top is stockinette. It was easy mindless knitting, and I made up the instructions as I went along. While I don't wear this sweater, I love it nonetheless. It was started with a "hey I can make that myself" and I did. Lesson learned: Think hard about copying another designer sweater.