01-16-2012 - From my old blog:

The Sweater of Guilt

Frequently when I’m making a sweater for myself, my husband reaches over, feels the fabric, and says “That would make a nice vest!” (For himself, of course.)

I finally decided it was time to make another sweater for him, so I started on an Elizabeth Zimmermann Seamless Hybrid with Shirt Yoke, using some Patons Merino I’ve had in the stash for years.

I didn’t tell him about it at first – just used the measurements from the last sweater I made him, and started working on it. That was my road trip project for Las Vegas. Sure enough, about halfway down to Vegas, when we stopped for gas, he said “That would make a nice vest!” My response was that I was making a sweater for him, but that I could turn it into a vest if he preferred. He was very excited when he found out it was something for him.

I decided to knit the sleeves downward, so that I can adjust the length and shaping as I go, so I only just did enough of them to join to the body and decide if the cast-on number is good. (The first try wasn’t – I needed to add a half inch to the sleeve.)

I’m getting close to starting the first saddle. I had him try it on last night, and it looks pretty good so far.

02-13-2012 - From my old blog:

The Guilt Sweater is done! Not only that, but it fits and he loves it. He really likes the feel of the yarn, so hopefully it will hold up for a while. (This is the old Patons Classic Wool, not the new stuff.)

As he requested, it has bracelet-length… uh, I mean “watch-length” sleeves, and the ribbing at the neck is high enough to cover the neckline of a t-shirt.

It was interesting knitting it from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s “pithy” instructions, but I just forged blindly ahead and it all worked out. Well, the second time, anyway. I redid the sleeves because Larry thought the original sleeve size might be a little too small, but larger sleeves threw off the sizing of the saddle and shoulders, and it was a total fail, so I had to rip out the top and start the sleeves again with the original number. Not surprisingly, it all worked out fine that way. That Elizabeth was a clever one.

I tried it on myself, and although it was just a bit too big, I liked the lines of it, so I’ll probably make one for myself one of these days.

And of course, with the sweater of guilt out of the way, I’ve bought myself plenty of time for selfish knitting.

Pattern notes: I did a phony seam on the sides of the body, as well as down the back of each sleeve. Since I wasn’t sure about the sleeves, instead of doing them cuff-upward, I used a provisional cast-on to cast-on the ending number of stitches and worked them downward for about 2″ before putting them on waste yarn. Then I joined them to the body according to the pattern and finished the yoke and neck. When everything else was done, I worked the sleeves downward.

It’s a little difficult to tell from the photos, but the neck opening is square, not round – but the ribbing makes it look fairly round.