Pattern Focus: Navelli

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Synopsis of project details for navelli top - all information in post
Navelli was a lovely top to knit. I love combining colours in a project and I'm particularly thrilled with this combination. 
4 hanks of yarn including 2 coffee-coloured, 1 beige and 1 burgundy
I'd originally bought all the colours from Lay Family Yarn. The original lighter skein that I wanted to use had a greener tone but I realised how perfect a match the Ephemera skein was from Mr B. It has touches of the burgundy in it and has a warmer tone too.

The coffee-coloured is Macchiato and the burgundy is Forager. Both are from Lay Family Yarn.  The base for all of them is 75% merino / 25% nylon  and 425m/100g.

These colours are a bit of a departure for me (in terms of what I normally wear) but I'm absolutely thrilled with it.
wearing Navelli top in coffee, burgundy and cream stood in front of plants
Can't be serious all the time. Can we? 
wearing Navelli top in coffee, burgundy and cream in an exaggerated position
I worked the 5th size which gave me about 8" of positive ease. I didn't modify a huge amount in the pattern. My gauge was a little off 25 x 36 instead of 24 x 30; though it's a pattern where the sizing doesn't need to be hugely precise.

I used a larger needle on the stranded colourwork section.
close up of colourwork section in cream and burgundy
To stop pooling or weird colour blocks, the main colour was striped helically in the body. There was a bit of an issue when I hit the front/back section. That part is worked flat and the two skeins of the main colour were quite different to one another. When I started striping every two rows instead of the one row on the body, it looked blatantly different to me. I ended up striping every row using a circular needle and just working from whichever end the working yarn was. I'm a lot happier with the finish now. You might spot the few rows near the armhole where it was pooling.
Navelli on the needles showing the pooling at the armholes
I did modify the sleeves slightly. I reduced the stitch count a bit on the sleeves and worked a purl ridge at the edge to give it a crisp clean look. On the inside of the turned hem, I used a smaller needle too.close up of Navelli sleeve showing ridge in burgundy
This is one of those outfits that is completely reversible but I did want to keep the little bit of 2 row striping at the back when I put it on. I've been meaning for ages to get labels to add to my handknits. My inspiration for the labels was a little lacking but my husband (who has a brilliant sense of humour) came up with this one and I just had to go with it.
black and pink label in the back of knitted garment that reads Hey Sleepy This is the Back


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