BTF14 Spotlight: Ondawa Pullover

. Today we’re talking about Ondawa, Michele Wang’s architectural cropped pullover from BT Fall 14. This piece is a wonderful mix of modern and traditional – with luscious stitch motifs adorning a clean, contemporary silhouette. Michele adopted panels of travelling twisted stitches and strongly linear cables found in some Aran-style sweaters and applied them all over her design to create a fabric that wants to move and fold. Even though the garment is cropped, the thoughtful arrangement of motifs and all those slanting lines draw the eye vertically and create lengthening, flattering shapes on the body. .

. Love the sweater but not the length? Here are some suggestions for making the garment work for you: We know cropped sweaters aren’t everyone's cup of tea. You may feel more comfortable in a garment that reaches your high hip or even hangs to tunic length. But because the shapes are so simple, it’s very easy to lengthen Ondawa for a more traditional silhouette. A wide Bateau type garment is a simple rectangle – one of the easiest shapes to modify. .

. After the ribbing of the front and back are complete and the cables are established, you’d simply work from the charts to a few inches shorter than your ideal total length and then finish off the piece with 1x1 twisted rib (worked at the top of the Body pieces) as indicated by the pattern. Ondawa’s geometric composition of two rectangles and a pair of trapezoids means you have great latitude in customizing the fit to your own dimensions, too. Since the width of the boatneck is determined by your seaming, you can adjust the way the garment sits on your shoulders after the knitting is complete. You can also easily mix and match torso and sleeve sizes to get a comfortable fit everywhere. Measure your arm circumference at the biceps to determine which size sleeve will give you a slender fit that’s not too restricting. .

. A word of caution, though: twisted ribs, cable motifs and wide shapes consume more yarn than the average sweater, so if you’re planning to lengthen Ondawa, make sure to plan on having plenty of extra yardage on hand! We can’t wait to see how you’ll fit Ondawa into your winter wardrobe. There are already some beautiful interpretations taking shape on Ravelry! [Read more about all the specifics of this pattern on Ondawa's information page!]