Thursday 31 July 2014

On the needles: Striped Boatneck Sweater

I managed to finish this jumper for Jimmy, in time for his birthday!! It was fresh off the knitting needles 1 week before the big day, giving me a week to sew all the seams. Sewing seams is really satisfying. All it needs is to be blocked lightly and then we just have to wait until the seasons change, so that it's actually cool enough for Jimmy to wear it.

I'm really proud of how it's come out. The pattern is from a lovely book titled What To Knit When You're Expecting. I bought it in my 3rd trimester, which was a slight oversight on my part. Ah well... I cast-on the sleeping bag while in hospital but Jimmy grew very quickly, quicker than I could knit, so it's still unfinished...

Because of this, I was really worried that if I followed the pattern for the Striped Boatneck Sweater, it would be too small for Jimmy when it was needed, so I added a 2 stitches to every piece that was knitted. I had bought the yarn used in the book, it's lovely and light but it should be lovely and warm too, but I knit tightly so I had to check my gauge to see if I needed to go up 1 or 2 needle size. After checking my gauge, I went up 1 needle size, because the knitted swatch was too open, and then used instructions for the largest size. I figured that by going up 1 needle size and adding the extra stitches the sweater would be a little too large for a mid year winter but about the right size by New Years.

We were starting to pack up when I started the body of the sweater, and I finished the second body piece before leaving Australia. Once we were moved into our apartment I started on the sleeves and decided to knit both at the same time... It was slow going and some nights I didn't have the headspace for 4 balls of wool but it was worth it.


When it came to attaching the sleeves I couldn't use the measurements from the pattern, so I gently stretched out the sewn sleeves, measured the large opening, and pinned and sewed the side seams. Then I attached the sleeves. This seems to have worked and the sleeves sit well in the body.

While we're yet to see the sweater on Jimmy, it is nice and long, and roomy too. He's going to look so dapper!

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