Harden sweater by Julie Hoover review

 

Harden sweater in Purl Soho Understory

This is the Harden sweater by Julie Hoover. I have had this pattern from Julie Hoover sweater club in 2018. At the time, you had to buy both patterns in the sweater club, but only have to buy yarn for one. At the time, I thought my skill was not good enough to pay for this yarn, which is a blend of alpaca, yak and silk and is spun in Italy.

So Purl Soho had a sale this year and I got this color in Autumn Moor at 25% off, still at about $150 for 6 skeins. I knitted this in size 3 (45.75) and used 5.2 skeins. This knitted up fast and is fairly easy for me now, but the raglan sleeves somehow looked complicated to me back then.

Harden in Autumn Moor

So fast forward a few months, Purl Soho had another sale, with my luck Autumn Moor is still available and this time it is marked down to 40% off, very obviously discontinued.

So I bought another 6 skeins in Silver Berry. I generally do not pick neutral colors and Silver Berry looked less grey online. But at $120 for a finished garment in this yarn is such a good deal to me, I knitted a second one.

This is a thick sweater and not woolly. I shorten the body by 10 rows since I do not want a long tunic. Long tunics make short people shorter (I am 5’3”).

I really enjoy knitting this pattern and with a size 6 needle for the body, this knits up fast. Both garments only took 2 weeks each. 

I saw on the Biches et Bûches website that they are selling this “kit” in their Le Petit lambswool, which is a much thinner yarn. I also think the garment had not been blocked and really does not appeal to me, see pic below.

I then reached out to Ms Hoover and asked if there are any plans to update her recommended/featured yarn in patterns where the yarn has since been discontinued. The answer is “That’s a good question”. She also noted that there may be a lot of yarn substitutes but since the closest decent size yarn store for me is 70 miles away, I am just going to see if Purl Soho will have a newer yarn that resembles Understory.

Harden in Silver Berry

Harden in Biches et Bûches Le petit Lambswool
Source: Biches et Bûches website