Drumroll, please
At last I have pictures of my father’s finished Christmas sweater. When I say “finished”, I’ll add the caveat that I didn’t actually get to block it. I wove in the last end around 2 a.m. on Christmas morning, having worked a couple of inches of 2 x 2 ribbing for the neckband that incorporated my dad’s initials at the back. The initials didn’t show up as well as they should have, and the cast-off edge of the ribbing looked too feathery and soft for a man’s sweater. So on Boxing Day I tore out the section with the initials and worked a further inch of ribbing all around so I could roll the neckband to the inside for a rounded collar. I bound off and joined the seam using the sort of fake grafting sometimes used for shoulder seams. It looked great. So it was time for a photo shoot:
This isn’t the view from my house, unfortunately. We went on a little hike to burn off a little of the awesome toffee bread pudding my cousin made for Christmas dessert, and this is the view from the top of our little mountain. Here’s a closer view of the back of the gansey:
(I apologize that only the thumbnails are available at present. I think we’re going to install Lightbox JS in the next couple of days, which will allow you to click on the photo and get the full version, so check back.)
I like to think of this as Dad’s Sound of Music pose. Pretty cute, eh? It really shows how the sweater needs blocking, though.
Specs for Dad’s Christmas Gansey:
Most of 8 balls (about 1550 yards) of Jaeger Luxury Tweed in color “fern”
US size 6 Addi Turbos, 32″ long – and thanks to Lisa for the loan of the second circ that let me work the sleeves in the round!
Design is my own, via Priscilla Gibson-Roberts’s basic instructions in Knitting in the Old Way and Barbara Walker’s excellent first volume of A Treasury of Knitting Patterns. I used the tubular cast on and worked the sweater in the round up to the armpits, then divided to work the front and back flat. I joined the shoulders using kitchener stitch, then picked up stitches around the armholes to work the sleeves in the round. Lastly, I picked up around the neck opening (I’d left the stitches at the front and back center live, on waste yarn) and worked the neckband as I described above.
We’ll close with a gratuitous cute puppy shot:
Posted: January 9th, 2006 at 5:49 am
Congrats on your dad’s gorgeous sweater! It looks and fits perfectly 🙂
Posted: January 9th, 2006 at 6:13 am
WOW! It looks great on him! You’ve done an excellent job. I can’t wait to see your future patterns 🙂
sadly, I am still sans template in my viewing on both IE and Mozilla.
Posted: January 9th, 2006 at 7:05 am
wow, wow, wow!! that is just an AMAZING sweater, sarah! an heirloom item, for sure. and your dad is so cute 🙂 you both have the same smile.
Posted: January 9th, 2006 at 7:58 am
so impressive! you did a great job, and he seems to love it. cute pics, too!
Posted: January 9th, 2006 at 8:00 am
What a beautiful sweater! Amazing.
Posted: January 9th, 2006 at 8:05 am
Fantastic! Your dad looks so happy and proud. Not to mention handsome in his wonderfully fitting sweater. What an accomplishment!
Posted: January 9th, 2006 at 8:41 am
OMG that is an amazing sweater…what a lucky dad! He seems to really be enjoying it!
Posted: January 9th, 2006 at 8:55 am
what an amazing sweater sarah. your dad looks thrilled!
Posted: January 9th, 2006 at 9:22 am
Stunning. Gorgeous. Impressive. I can’t think of enough grandiose words to express how awesome that sweater is. Way To GO! And that puppy has got to be the cutest thing ever. I can see all your sidebar info now, too!! Woo hoo!
Posted: January 9th, 2006 at 9:30 am
Wow! What a beautiful sweater. Simply stunning. Great job. I envy your knitting skillz!
Posted: January 9th, 2006 at 10:57 am
That came out beautifully!!!
Posted: January 9th, 2006 at 11:16 am
The sweater. It is. Stunning. WOW! I am floored. Nice!
Posted: January 9th, 2006 at 12:27 pm
It looks great on your Dad! and he looks so happy. I have some luxury tweed for hubby when I finish his present sweater…this give me some ideas.
Posted: January 9th, 2006 at 3:24 pm
LOVE it. I love the pattern, and the fit for your dad is perfect! Congrats, you should publish the pattern!!
Posted: January 9th, 2006 at 6:55 pm
that is FANTASTIC! i can’t wait to see bigger pics!
Posted: January 10th, 2006 at 9:42 am
Holy toledo! The sweater looks fabulous! Those are really great pictures of your Dad, he looks really happy.
Posted: January 10th, 2006 at 10:13 am
Just stunning! What a beautiful sweater!
Posted: January 10th, 2006 at 5:34 pm
wooooo…. fancy! that is amazing. i’d love to see larger photos!