My contribution to Ysolda’s The Rhinebeck Sweater.

Mulberry Street started off as a little textured swatch. Just a simple knit and purl texture pattern that reminds me of a waffle stitch or less involved shaker rib. I was experimenting with combining two yarns together, a worsted weight wool and a hand dyed lace weight yarn. When worked together, they made an interesting marled fabric that complimented the texture stitch well.

For the actual sweater, I wanted it to be unfussy, interesting to knit, and be fun to wear. I also wanted it to be warm. There is nothing that spoils the triumph of finishing your Rhinebeck sweater the night before the festival than having to wear a jacket because your sweater isn’t quite warm enough (I like fine hand knits, what can I say!)

The warmth was provided with a mix of yarns from The Verdant Gryphon. The main yarn is Mondegreen, a luxurious mix of Blue Faced Leicester wool, baby camel, and silk. The contrasting lace weight yarn is Mithril, a superfine merino. Both of these yarns combine beautifully and were a pleasure to work with.

For the design of the sweater, I took a break from my obsession with seams and went with a seamless construction. With the thicker, textured fabric, I felt seaming would be unnecessary and working in the round for most of the way would speed up the process slightly. I also love working a decorative raglan “seam” at the armholes whenever the pattern allows.

While the texture stitch, yarn, and raglan details all come together to create a nice sweater design, I wanted a little more from my perfect Rhinebeck sweater. Enter the back cut out detail.

I really love a nicely placed back detail! I found a special dress with a cut out back for the photoshoot, which provided a little bit of air conditioning for the cool crisp morning. However, on a normal day, I would wear my nice collared button down shirt underneath (which just happens to match the lace yarn color perfectly). I could also layer with a comfy t-shirt as well.