The Seolta Crew-Neck
As those of you who follow my pattern releases have undoubtedly noticed, I have been slightly obsessed with the sailboats motif for the past month.
First came the children’s design, the Seolta Mini. And upon its release, I mentioned that an adult version would follow shortly.
Whereupon, I immediately received messages from several people asking the same question:
Will the adult version also have a sailor collar, or will there be a crew-neck option?
Reading between the lines, it is clear not everybody shares my enthusiasm for sailor-collars. And despite this being my favourite neckline finish at the moment, I do understand that many consider the style to be a bit kitsch and over the top for an adult to wear.
And while the Seolta Pullover does have the option of a much shorter, polo-shirt style collar, I suppose even that - in combination with the sailboats motif - reads as ‘too much’ for the move conservative colourwork lovers. I get it, I really do. However, as a designer, I think it’s important to stay strong to one’s vision. Allowing the audience to influence the direction of creative work is, frankly, dangerous territory. For that reason, I intended to stick with my original collar design.
But then my husband out of the blue, told me that he loves the Seaolta design and wants a sweater like that for his birthday. But can he have one with a dark background, a more fitted shape, and… a crew-neck collar? So much for my resolve for artistic integrity!
Of course, as long as I was making one for him it would have been downright mean not to include instructions for the modifications in the pattern itself. And so I added an Appendix with exactly that.
In addition to the standard adult Seolta instructions, the Appendix offers two modifications: (1) the crew neck mod, and (2) the fitted bodice & sleeves mod.
Both are very easy to do. But the instructions also come with a passive-aggressive dig a caveat, noting that I personally don’t think these mods are a great idea. I explained the reason briefly in the pattern, but here is a more elaborate explanation for anyone interested.
1. The Crewneck Modification
The thing to keep in mind here, is what this modification does to the top of the sweater. I deliberately took the above and below photos from an angle to show this effect fully. The colourwork on Seolta ends at the shoulders, with the top of the sweater worked in the background colour only. With the polo-shirt/ sailor collar, the resulting ‘blank space’ is covered up by the turned collar edges. With a crewneck collar, however, the blank space is fully visible. Personally, I am not sure I like this. But my husband does. Have a good look and decide for yourself!
1. Fitted Bodice & Sleeves Modification
The original adult Seolta was designed with a relaxed, straight bodice and sleeves, with no shaping what so ever. The fitted modification explains how to work a fitted bodice and sleeves, by decreasing stitches between chart repeats. This works well, and is extremely easy to do, as it avoids increasing/ decreasing in-pattern. However! Changing stitch counts between chart repeats means that the sail-boats will not be vertically aligned throughout the fabric, the way they are in the original version. Again, whether this bothers you or not is subjective. But full disclosure, that this is a side-effect, as it were, of the mod!
Having made the fitted crew-neck version on Seolta, I have to admit that it looks rather nice on my husband! And I do think it has its place within the Seolta collection, without compromising the integrity of the design. For men in particular, I think these mods could be very useful. And whichever version of Seolta you choose to knit, I hope you enjoy this fun nautical design.
