Minimalist Blouse #1

February 22, 2025


Today I have knitting, not cleaning, to share. I have been sick and so cleaning has been pushed aside, but between naps I was knitting. I felt pretty low for a while but since I'm feeling so much better, I went out to lunch yesterday with the birthday girls and wore my new sweater. It was a sunny day and this sunny color was perfect for the occasion. Can you see that the fabric has a fluffiness to it? It's so cozy and fluffy, and you may not believe it, but it's cotton!



When knitters see a fluffy sweater, we naturally think that it must be mohair. Knitters love to add a strand of mohair/silk to make a sweater go fluffy, but I can only do that for outerwear as mohair next to my skin won't work. When I saw this cotton I was thrilled to think that maybe I could make a fluffy pullover sweater too!  I bought this cotton half off from my LYS, intrigued by its structure and content. Lang Aura is an 80/20 blend of cotton and nylon, then brushed to make it fluff, but with none of the itchiness that I feel with mohair. I cast on immediately and instantly knew I loved it, dashed back to the shop to buy more, but no luck, it was all gone. I've since done an online search but it's slim pickings worldwide. I am looking for the off white color but the only white yarn I could find in stock was from Europe and the shipping was $50 so that was a no. It really is special though and I hope another yarn manufacturer will come up with something similar. FYI, I put it in the washer and dryer to shrink it a bit and it performed beautifully. You can see my sweater on my project page on Ravelry.

The pattern is Blouse #1 by My Favorite Things. You can see all of her pretty designs here. I thought the minimalist look would showcase this beautiful yarn. The sleeves have a slight bell shape at the hem and I do think I'm going to make it again in Rowan Summerlite DK or Handknit Cotton, but with a more pronounced bell. The hems and neck are left unfinished to curl on their own. I love that look. In the picture below you can see the brushed fluff on each strand. I used the color Corn and while it's a bit of a departure for me, I'm planning to introduce more color into my summer wardrobe and this is a great start.



I'm planning a works in progress post. I have so many!
I'm also going to tackle my kitchen and laundry room next week. Wish me luck.


I hope you enjoyed my post and found it helpful and will consider becoming a subscriber to the Knitionary blog. If yes, please click here. I won't sell your email so no need to worry about that sort of thing. I honestly wouldn't know how to do that if I did. I try to send out one post a week, usually about knitting but also about my other loves--gardening, crafts and entertaining. Sometimes I use affiliate links in my posts to help offset the costs of running a blog. If you click on an affiliate link and purchase an item, I may earn a little money. If you purchase the item using my affiliate link or not, the price will be the same. Purchasing from my affiliate links adds no cost to you but could put a little money in my pocket. Thank you for supporting the blog. If you'd like to make a comment, please scroll down. I reply to each comment and that response will appear directly below your comment. If you would like a personal reply, please know that I use the Blogger platform and they do not give me your contact information when you comment. If you would like a personal reply, you can contact me using the contact form on the right side at the very end of my website




You Might Also Like

11 Comments

  1. You looked like a beautiful spring daffodil at the luncheon yesterday. Lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful sweater! I’m so glad that you’re feeling better. Take care of yourself! I’ll be in your area in two weeks! Hoping I can make it to your LYS!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sharon, I'm sorry we won't be able to meet this time, but hopefully in May! We'll have to plan in advance!

      Delete
    2. Hopefully! I’ll let you know so we can plan!

      Delete
  3. I am thinking of making Blouse No 1. Was it hard to get gauge with that yarn? I actually have some…

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not at all. The yarn was a perfect match for the pattern. It does make a dense fabric though. I thought with all the cotton content it would be more of a summer evening sweater, and it will be nice for chilly summer nights, it will be good for spring and fall too. Surprisingly warm.

      Delete
  4. You look gorgeous in that sweater! I may have to add that pattern to my list. Could Lang have changed the name of the yarn as an update? I was looking at Lang Amanu My wips are many too. Hope you feel better soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I simply love the pattern and will def. make it again. I couldn't find Ananu on the web so don't know if they have remade it under a new name. I am not familiar with Lang yarns to be honest. I do love that Aura though.

      Delete
  5. Beautiful color, Kristen!. I bet it makes you happy to wear it! I’ve heard that suri alpaca instead of mohair + silk is less scratchy. I wonder if that would work if you can’t find any more of the Lang yarn. chloe

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you! I too hear that alpaca and silk is a good replacement for mohair. Unfortunately I sometimes find that alpaca is scratchy. Ugh. I wonder if it's scratchy or it's that my skin is allergic to it in some way, but not all the time. If I'm super cold I can wear it, but if I'm warm in the slightest, alpaca will drive me nuts. I hate being such a fussbudget.

    ReplyDelete

You make my day when you make a comment!

Labels

afghan Alana Dakos ally pally ambassador Amy Herzog Ankestrick Arte Italica baby Baby Cocktails bakelite baking berry picking Best Friday of the Month best of Ravelry Big Sur blue transferware book review books boutique brook cables California candy child children children's activities Christmas Christmas crafts Christmas knitting Clean-Along cleaning collections cookie cutters cookies cooking craft Crafts crochet cross-stitch day trip decluttering decorating deep cleaning designer spotlight discount diy dog dolls Easter eau de vie Elizabeth Bradley Elizabeth Zimmerman embroidery entertaining Facebook fall fall decorating fall garden family featured first car fit flower arranging flowers free pattern Friday night party group friends funny Fur garden gardening Giants Gifted Hostess give-away giveaway gluten free gourmet group Halloween herbs holiday home how to set up a party group jewelry Kaffe Fassett KAL Kim Hargreaves kitting Knit Picks knitting laundry Le Jacquard Francais Little French Knits Los Altos lunch Mailbu Making Things Marie Wallin Martin Storey menu minimalism money talk mosaic movies my house my patterns my town nails needlepoint needles October challenge Octoberfest ollalie organizing original design outdoor seating owl party prep pear peg dolls pies pomegranates poncho preview quilting recipe recycling redwork review roses Rowan San Francisco Sarah Hatton sewing sewing room tour shawl shopping shower social media softie spring spring garden stash Stitches West summer summer garden summer knitting Sunday Morning Swans Island table setting test test knit Thanksgiving Three Irish Girls TNNA tomatoes top 10 list toys travel tutorial twinning ufo Uncommon Threads vacation Valentine vegetable garden videos wedding winter garden wip Woolfolk yarn yarn for sale Ysolda