First cap off the rank - or should I say 'First finished object' for the year

 I finally finished my husband's jumper that I had been promising for quite a while, he kept slipping down the list as I knit jumpers for my sons and now for my grandson. Finally, he made it to the top of the list. Not that he doesn't have any handknit jumpers by me, I have done a number over the years.

I finally found a jumper I was happy with and he seemed to like. He did ask for a jumper with a zip, but I managed to dissuade him of that. From one of my books 'Vogue Men's Knits' by Christina Probert. They are re-imaginings of earlier Vogue Knitting patterns, published in 1985. 

The pattern I selected was from 1934, the Knitted Shirt-style sweater. Unfortunately, it had a picture of the current version, but not the 1934 original, which many of the other sweaters did have.

I selected Bendigo Woollen Mills 5ply Classic in the colour Broadleaf. This did mean that I needed to swatch and recalculate the pattern. The switch from 30sts to 10cm to 26sts to 10cm didn't prove too problematic and I managed to get the fit fairly correct and the finish to his specifications.

The pattern itself showed a slightly fancy rib, but I found the inside much more interesting. I kept going and finally got to the collar, which I decided to knit directly onto the sewn up jumper. Somewhere in that process I had a brain fade and decided that the inside was the right side and pulled the jumper apart and re-sewed it up again, only to get to the collar again to discover that the old right side was the correct right side!

I did like the new reversed jumper and decided to do the collar correctly to give a nice contrast. Found some wooden buttons in my stash, and, voila....it's finished.

 still have to steam the jumper, but as it's 37℃ top today, I'll leave it for another day.

Unfinished projects

So many unfinished projects, I seem to start and stop losing my mojo....until now. 

Have finally caught up with Stuart and Shannon in the park with an afternoon picnic lunch with all the others also picnicing. I remembered the jumper I started, having done the back and one sleeve. Because of the rib, I couldn't decide if it was too big or too small......All's good, it fits exactly as he would like it.

It's a pattern from 'The Knitter' magazine. (Issue 150) One of the magazines I bought during 2020 to add to the pile. That's how I passed the time, buying magazines. Now they sit at the front door, ready to take to my local knitting group to give away, when we can meet again. I didn't really want them all. At least I found this jumper for Stuart.

I did have to make several adjustments. The main adjustment was not to use the 10ply yarn recommended and select an 8 ply from the Bendigo Woollen Mills range. 10ply is just to hot for our climate and for my hot running boys.

It's a simple calculation if you do a tension swatch and have all the measurements.

I'm happy to be back knitting for Stuart. After that's finished there's an exciting challenge for Michael's next jumper.