Yoked Keyhole Sweater

I once saw a black keyhole sweater on the Frederick's of Hollywood website. It had five keyholes instead of just one, which I really liked, but regrettably, it had 3/4 sleeves and a turtleneck, neither of which I like. That, plus the fact that I couldn't afford it anyway, made me decide to knit my own instead. I had three skeins of Lion Brand Homespun in a blue and tan color which had been discontinued. I had initially planned to make a shawl out of it, but I changed my mind when I decided to design this pattern.

I had planned on knitting this keyhole sweater for at least a couple of years, but I never got around to it because I wasn't sure how to go about creating the keyholes, plus I had never made anything with a yoke before. Finally, I cut my teeth on an autumn leaves tunic out of a book, and with that as a reference, I designed my very own yoke.

In the process of knitting this sweater, I learned several lessons:

1. Don't design anything crazy on your first yoke design.
2. Even without crazy designs, charting the decreases on a yoke is a pain in the ass.
3. No matter how much you hate sewing seams, don't knit the front and back of a yoked sweater in the round. Knit the front and back as two separate pieces. It will be so much easier when you go to attach the sleeves to work the yoke later.
4. Never ever knit anything with more than one keyhole. Yarn bobs are a pain in the ass.

I initially designed this sweater with five keyholes in it, just like the one I'd seen on the Frederick's site, but after I knitted it, I tried it on and decided I hated it. Multiple keyholes just looked like tears in the fabric. I didn't like the narrow spacing between them, plus I decided the keyholes were too big. So I ripped out the whole yoke, redesigned the keyhole pattern with only one modestly sized keyhole, and reknitted it. It's not the sexy Frederick's design, but no matter. It's more important that it looks good as it is. It's not often that one finds even a hint of sexiness in hand knitted winter wear, but I think I succeeded here.