10 October Finished the knitting and grafted the underarms on the aeroplane as it approached JFK on 2 October. Darned in all the ends on the train between NY and Danville just in time to present to the recipient later that day. Certainly no time to add a hood.

27 September - an inch to go on the sleeves. Started skeins 6 and 7 just as the increases were done. Looks like I’ll get it finished before the deadline. Still pondering the pros and cons of a hood. On balance currently think it might spoil the lines of the finished garment. But that might change.

20 September - finished the lower body a little way in to the fourth skein, about to start the sleeves. I’m using the Knitting Daily e-book Top Ten Patterns for Knitted Pullovers of 2010 (which doesn’t seem to be listed on Ravelry). Can the tension really be 29 rows to 4”? I, of course, didn’t do a swatch. Mine appears to be about 26 rows. I certainly wouldn’t want to go down to 4mm needles for an entire man’s aran jumper. The width appears to be fine even though I’m getting 16 stitches to 4” rather than 18. Big is beautiful, after all.

The colour of this yarn is absolutely beautiful. A very soft bluey-purpley grey with flecks of all sorts of other colours - red, brown, blue, purple, green. A very heathered effect. I see from the outer packet that the ten skeins were reduced from £52.50 to £25.00. A major bargain, then, even all those years ago.

(Pre cast-on notes)

Don’t think the other (grey) wool is going to arrive in time. So starting this instead.

After a thorough study of other project notes I’m planning to use the smaller needle for the bottom borders to avoid “flare” and the two-ball no-purl method for the garter stitch to avoid both a seam and tension anomalies. Will watch out for neck opening size and may add a hood.

Using foot-long dpns since I knit quicker with straights and the project can be folded up neatly for transportation. The yarn feels kind of dusty but that could well be because it is, having hung around for possibly a couple of decades. Nothing a good gentle wash before blocking can’t cure.