jarrett

Hooray!

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Jarrett by Kim Hargreaves from Rowan's Vintage Style.
Size: Medium with extra length in the arms.
Yarn: Cascade 220 in shade Walnut Heather; almost eight skeins.
Needles: 4mm and 4.5mm.

Stash/recycle content: Just a little bit. I added elbow patches that I cut out of a rather ugly suede skirt purchased at Bellevue Goodwill. I actually bought the skirt to cut out elbow patches to mend a friend's husband's sweater but the suede turned out to be just the right shade for this project too.
Start to finish: 15 March to 13 August 2011 - five months, not bad.

Comments: I put a lot of effort into this knit! I learned and used the long-tail tubular cast-on for hems and cuffs, cast off the neck in similar fashion (not sure where the link is for that one but it involved Kitchener stitch), lovingly knitted the button and buttonhole bands until they fit when gently stretched, single-row buttonholes, a row of slip stitch crochet to reinforce the neckline, and quite a lot of stocking stitch.

I did knit the moss stitch elbow patches and shoulder flaps, I even crocheted around the edges to try and neaten them up but they just didn't work for me. Instead I sewed on very professorial leather elbow patches and dispensed with the shoulder flaps altogether.

The buttons we purchased together at my beloved The Button Shop in Melbourne when we were there in April.

Verdict: Pretty happy. Tim is over the moon that I have finally knit a garment for him (this was my first men's garment!) The fit is good in terms of the size I chose and the sleeve length but still I think the design itself is a bit roomy in the upper sleeves.

Oh and that old-fashioned knit-the-button-band-separately construction is such a pain. And so outdated. Knitting this has made me really curious to take a closer look at the seamless knits that are around. Sometimes it seems as though new designs are just the same old cardigan or sock with a different lace stitch plugged in but seamless construction, top-down set-in sleeves - it's exciting that there is still room for innovation in knitting. Speaking of which, next up for Tim is Brownstone in brown; ok, 'espresso'.

ultra-smart

'Ten ultra-smart garments' - oh how I love these old knitting pattern books, if only for the wonderful presentation. I recently received a whole package of them to add to my collection of, hmm, many many dozens.

I'm not sure where to start, with the fetching Maberley there on the left (although I may give the pom-poms a miss) or the very glamorous Judith on the right. Actually, I wouldn't know where to start because so many of these old patterns seem to be written exclusively for a 34 inch bust. I don't need to even convert that to centimetres to know that there's not a chance in Holofernes that this would fit me.

What were you supposed to do back in 1936 if you were in a similar situation? Were all knitters simply expected (required) to know how to size something up or down? I suppose that these days something like Ann Budd's Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns would indeed come in handy for working out how many stitches to cast on or increase for larger sizes and I guess that you would just follow some of the design elements or stitch patterns along the way.

Maybe this is why books like Rowan's Vintage Knits are so appealing - half a dozen sizes, contemporary yarns and ssk instead of slkpsso (even if you don't speak knitting, you can see that the former is simpler than the latter). Now that is smart. Which brings me around to Jarrett, Tim's great garment of 2011 (TGG11): it is almost finished, although I have taken no photographs to prove this. I have one elbow patch, button and buttonhole bands and collar to go. Oh, and all the seaming but never mind that.