Another Noro Project: Marseille Sweater in Noro Akari Solo

I got an email that my local yarn store was having a semi-annual sale and decided to browse online. I saw the Noro skeins were 50% off and I just couldn’t resist. Noro Akari Solo specifically was the one I was eyeing. The fiber combination (26% silk, 21% cotton, 15% viscose, 14% mohair, 12% wool, 12% nylon) seemed like it would be really soft and wearable. And the colors looked beautiful, slightly more subdued than your average Noro yarn, but still with a lot of depth and a sort of acid wash quality. Out of the colors that were still in stock, I thought either color 18 (a purpley/maroon) or color 15 (which looked very gray online) might be something I would wear.

As I drove to the yarn store, I was really thinking I would end up liking the purple color more. But when I got there and saw color 15 with my own eyes, I realized it wasn’t your everyday heathered gray—it was a subtle but stunning mix of purple, emerald green, and turquoise. It’s the type of color that does look kinda gray in certain lighting, but when you see it clearly it’s really special. I immediately knew what I had to do.

The knitting experience with this yarn was pleasant overall. It had a more rustic feel than expected—with only 12% wool in the fiber content, I wasn’t expecting it to have so many of those little hay bits that you usually get in wool yarns. Everything else about the yarn is really soft, so it felt nice in my hands as long as I wasn’t getting poked by hay. It was slightly delicate at times—it broke once or twice while doing magic loop on a looser-spun section—but it held up well to frogging. I mean, I frogged it a lot and it didn’t get all fuzzy or extra weak. And the way it glided across the needles was nice.

My vision for this yarn was a sort of long-sleeve tee/sweater hybrid with a kind of vintage neckline curl and a relaxed fit. I had an image in my brain; I just needed a good base pattern. I wanted the pattern to have short row shaping at least on the back, a wide enough neckline for what I was picturing, and a gauge to match Noro Akari Solo. I ended up picking the Marseille Sweater by Petite Knit to be my base.

Some things I changed:

Cast-on: I didn’t realize before buying the pattern that it used a provisional cast-on, which I not only didn’t feel like learning at the time, but also I wanted the structure of a shoulder seam with so much silk and cotton in the fiber content. So I swapped it for a long-tail cast-on for the back and just picked up stitches normally for the front. With the sort of marled effect of the yarn, you can’t even really see the seam.

Sleeves: I knit up both sleeves with the original shaping first, realized they were way too wide and eating up way too much yarn, and decided to frog them. I then reknit them decreasing every 5th row instead of every 8th.

Sleeve and body ribbing: Instead of ribbing, I wanted a folded stockinette hem to give it more of a T-shirt vibe. I used this guide to help me accomplish that.

Neckline: The image below is from a 90s edition of Rowan Knitting, describing how to knit a “modern, stylish neckband” with ribbing to a stockinette curl. This is what really inspired the image in my brain and I felt like Noro Akari Solo had the perfect vibe to carry this idea out.

Despite how much I changed about it, I really liked this pattern. As with all Petite Knit patterns, this one was well-written, easy to follow, and had intentional shaping. Not only were there short rows on the front and back, which just makes it fit so much better, but there were also short rows on the sleeves. I’d never used short rows to make sleeve caps, but I liked the technique—it helped me conserve yarn since I didn’t have to overcompensate with extra rows to get the sleeves long enough. This was also maybe the first time I’ve actually knit the XS size, which means it’s my kind of oversized, which I love. Overall, this sweater worked great as a base and I can definitely see myself using it again even if what I make with it looks nothing like the Marseille Sweater.

Currently my project is on the blocking mats, I’ll leave it there for now—thanks for reading!