Summer Stripes

Hello!  I hope you are enjoying your summer.  We are two thirds of the way through the school holiday here, and I have a rare day of peace so thought now was as good a time as any to share with you a couple of jumpers that I knitted a few months ago.

I don’t know what it is about them but, like a moth to a flame, I always find myself drawn towards striped knits. 

Striped knits, along with Fair Isle, have always been popular, but were even more so during the war years.  Promoted to the Home Front knitter as a great way of using up those odd balls of wool left over from other projects, thus keeping hold of your precious clothing coupons a little longer (1 clothing coupon got you 2 ounces of knitting wool) there were plenty of patterns to choose from.

 

While saving and making do were hugely important at a time when literally every ounce of wool counted, you only have to take a look at the various ways the stripes were worked and woollens designed to understand that frugality wasn’t the only factor, and that fashion was also key. 

From graduated stripes of varying width, to a classic horizontal stripe.  Multi-coloured rainbow affairs to a far sleeker, and stylish, look. Look hard enough, and you’re bound to find a pattern to suit everyone. 

 

    

                     

 

I’ve knitted a number of striped jumpers in the past.  When I first started to knit, I only used DK, so the colour range available to me, in what was then my favoured Stylecraft, was a little limited.  But once I found I could effectively use 4 ply, the options were vast!

In the early part of 2016 I picked up a pattern on eBay, a favourite hunting ground of mine, for a wavy stripe jumper.  I hadn’t heard of Pearsall’s before, but was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the instructions and clear way the pattern was set out. 

 

Trying to keep to the 1940’s palette, I looked to the original pattern for inspiration because, unlike many of my favourite patterns, it offered up colourways which could work well.  Chestnut with New Gold, Wine and Moon Blue, Navy and Hyacinth or Black and Peach were the options offered up to tempt your fancy.  Because I am on a bit of a stash busting blitz, or at least I should be, and I didn’t have anything close to the colours suggested, I had to pick my own shades from the hoard of wool I have squirreled away.  There was plenty to choose from and I finally settled on my much loved Adriafil Azzurra in yellow and brown. 

The pattern is simple, and knits up really quickly.  I ignored the bit in the instructions which said you weren’t to press the work.  I think the lack of pressing was to do with the fact that they used rayon yarn, which, I’m guessing, hangs differently to wool, maybe weightier?!  Anyhow, I did press my work, and glad I did, else it would have looked dire!

 

It has a slightly unusual neckline.  Rather than a closed neck ribbing where you slip the jumper over your head, or a side opening one with a little fastener at the side, the front and back neck rib were worked entirely separately, and then fastened with a little button each side of the neck.  Made me think of Frankenstein’s monster, to be honest, but in a stylish sort of way! 

 

It sold really quickly, to a lovely lady right here in the UK, and I like the design so much that I started on another one pretty much straight away, this time in two-tone green.  And that, too, has found a new home, this time over in New Zealand.  The shades I used were army green and emerald green.  Sadly, emerald has been discontinued by Adriafil, goodness knows why.

The pattern is for a 33”-34” bust, and at the tension I knit at, both mine turned out as 34”-35” busts.  It isn’t one to be worn too snug, because the open work means you can see everything that is going on underneath if you pull too tightly. 

An added plus point is that it is an economical knit, taking just 136g of main colour and 80g of the accent shade, so it really is perfect for using up the little odd balls.  And from a cost point of view, using Azzurra, the wool worked out at just less than £15.00.  Not too bad!

If you fancy giving this little knit a go, the pattern is for sale in my Etsy shop , here, .  If you do knit it, I'd love to see the finished result! xx

Pretty as a Picture - 1930s Bow Jumper

Sorry it’s been so long since I last checked in.  My laptop threw a fit and refused to recognise blogger; what fun!!  I tried out the blogger app for the iPad, but I couldn’t get to grips with that, technology not being a strong point of mine, so Mr Y came to the rescue and ordered me a shiny new machine, so hopefully I can finally add some listings to my Etsy shop.

I hope you’re enjoying the bank holiday weekend.  I’m having a spot of peace and quiet this morning as Mr Y has taken the girls into town for a couple of hours while I pop a roast in the oven and do some knitting.  I’m working on a commission piece at the moment which is proving a little bit taxing on my brain!  I’ve mastered the actual pattern, all 36 rows of it, but I think there’s an error in the sleeve shaping because I’ve had to rip it back twice and no matter what way a look at it, the maths just isn’t working out right.  The phrase "a bad workman blames his tools" springs to mind, but I'm certain it's not me so am persevering, even if I have to re-write the sleeve shaping myself!  It’s being worked in a pretty dull gold shade, part of the Patons Diploma  Gold 4 ply range in a shade called golden; I love it.

Talking of woolly wonders, I said farewell to a rather splendid piece of knitting that headed overseas to Norway.  Another commission piece for a fabulous repeat customer, it was a slow knit, but a special one.

The pattern came from this Stitchcraft magazine from November 1936. 
 

When deciding on a pattern, the customer said they wanted long sleeved with a large front bow, something like Miss Lemon might wear in Poirot.  It’s never a chore to flick through the well-thumbed pages of my pattern collection, so, with the help of my mum, we set about choosing just the right design, and this one came out on top.

Knitted in Adriafil Azzurra 4 ply Bordeaux, it took a long time to knit.  Although it isn’t an overly complicated pattern, just an 8 row pattern repeat, it required my complete concentration so could only be knitted in the evenings.  The fact that I could only manage 1-2 hours a day on it, coupled with the fact that I had a 2 week holiday where I didn’t work on it at all, meant that it took three months to complete.  It needed just 3 buttons, but typically I didn't have enough matching ones in my stash so found these ones on eBay instead; a snip at £4.00
 

I’m really happy with how it turned out and the colour, although it doesn’t show that well in my photographs, is a really deep rich red.
 

I didn’t have to re-size the pattern, although it wouldn’t have been difficult to do so, and the only 2 changes I had to make to the jumper were to make the sleeves 19” under the arm rather than 18”, and to knit the bow in the same wool as the body of the jumper rather than the angora wool that was suggested.

Wool - Adriafil Azzurra 4 ply

Weight used - 7 balls

Time taken - 3 months

Size - 35" bust

Like some of the other patterns I’ve recently knitted up, I had some requests to make this pattern available as a PDF so, although it took me longer than expected, it is now finally available in my Etsy shop, which you can find here.

I’m on a bit of a mission to complete some of the work in progress jumpers that are languishing in various cupboards, bin bags and knitting bags!  When I last counted, I think there were 8 at various stages of completion, and I intend to remedy that, if I don’t get distracted by another pretty pattern, that is! ;-)

xx