High Standards

I don't knit many jumpers. That much yarn is expensive and I think I was put off by too many enthusiastic but technically flawed attempts as a beginner. Even now, when I class myself as a reasonably experienced knitter, I just don't seem to be able to get it right. Or at least that has been the case up until this year.

I'm now beginning to think that I'm incapable of knitting good jumpers for me.

Last year I had a commission and, to quote a wise but untraceable Raveler:

"Knitting is like sex. If I like you and you appreciate it, it is free. Other than that, you can’t pay me enough. "

Fortunately, this was the fun and appreciated sort of commission. Unfortunately, the requirements were a little tight. It had to be an aran/cable jumper. White or cream. Machine washable. Warm. Nice yarn. Long arms. Add to that my own requirement (somewhere this side of £100) and hopefully you'll see the challenge.

Machine washable and nice yarn presented an immediate problem. In a defeat for my budget criteria, nice yarn won out on the grounds that "if it's not nice then I won't wear it and it won't need washing in the first place." 

Finding the pattern was tricky at first because I had some strong ideas about what I wanted to make. I quickly but reluctantly abandoned these in favour of what the recipient wanted and I'm very glad I did.  The pattern chosen was a DROPS design, and therefore doesn't have a nice evocative name but rather goes by the sadly utilitarian 85-6. I'll admit to being initially uninspired but it turned out to be an unexpectedly good pattern choice.

The next problem was the yarn weights of the pattern. It's written for two different yarns held together throughout, an aran weight and a sport weight. I really, truly, desperately tried to match this with something that was available in the UK, was machine washable and didn't break the bank. I failed, repeatedly. Fortunately, I tested alternatives and found that two strands of doubleknit held together was a fantastic match! And, with the popularity of doubleknit in the UK, there was no shortage of white/cream yarn to choose from.

So, from there, I swatched like I've never swatched before! Hoping I might still save a little money, I tried a couple of budget yarns that still had some wool content but nothing worked as well Rowan Pure Wool DK. It was squishy, warm, soft and - best of all - superwash! Unfortunately, it also comes with the price tag you'd expect from Rowan.

Enter Get Knitted, yarn shop beyond compare! Their price was unbeaten anywhere, plus they're (almost) my local. I drove up to look at the yarn but found they had one solitary ball on the shelf. Fortunately, the lovely staff ordered it in for me and gave me the wonderful 10% Ravelry Group discount. It's not an exaggeration to say that, without Get Knitted, I never would have made this jumper. Thanks to their generous discount, low price and free shipping, even the amazing Rowan yarn fell into my "extravagant but affordable" price bracket.

So on to knitting. With two strands of doubleknit, you're more or less working with chunky. It's pleasingly fast. The elasticity of the yarn meant it took me some time to get my tension and I will confess that the back came out a rather different length than the front but I was on a time limit (belated Christmas) and there was no time for ripping back.

The pattern is brief, to the point and mainly great. There were only a couple of sections where I had to read things over a few times to check I had understood it correctly. That said, I wouldn't recommend it for anyone making their first ever jumper because I think it does assume some knowledge of a normal jumper construction.

I only made two modifications (other than the extra long arms that had been requested).

• The first is at the start of the front. There's an unusual and striking cable pattern through the front but the pattern starts with 4×2 rib and then cuts straight to the cable pattern in a really jarring way. I didn't get a photo of it but I just couldn't live with it. To hell with time constraints, I ripped back and adjusted the middle section of the rib so that it flowed into the cable. I can probably post a chart if anyone is interested.

• The second modification was the sleeve caps. Perhaps my tension as unusual (I don't think so) but, as written, I don't know how the sleeve caps would have fitted without some hefty (and very unmanly) gathering. Instead, I gradually decreased the sleeve caps down until they matched the size of the armholes more closely. I'm so glad I did because the result worked wonderfully.

I'd really recommend this pattern for anyone looking for a quick but really good jumper. There's a bit of shaping to the body which worked wonderfully, the cable is unusual but not overly complex and it turned out to be everything it needed to be. Most importantly, it was appreciated.