It’s election day, United States readers. Please go vote if you haven’t already and you are able. I don’t care who you vote for (well, actually I do but I won’t go there), as long as you get out and vote. Pictured in this sweater, pattern title: Rift, is my husband who happens to be on our local city council (and does a damn fine job). He’s up for re-election today, so I’m dubbing this the “election day sweater.”
The pattern is well written, but I think the sleeves are crazily wide at the top. I scaled this down to the 39 1/4″ size for the sleeves at the top and they’re still way too big. Overall, this sweater is just a little bigger than both Matt and I would like it to be. I got gauge and stuck to the pattern, but I should have just made modifications to size this between the two smallest sizes. Matt is thinking of this as a “lounge around sweater” and that is disappointing because I wanted it to be something that made it out of the house often. The yarn (Brooklyn Tweed SHELTER in Faded Quilt) is too lovely to belong to a sweater that has lackluster reception. I am exhausted at the thought of ripping this thing out, so if he doesn’t end up wearing it, it may just be given away and I’ll make something different.
The collar is also very wide. I suppose I could have added another row or two, but I was running out of yarn. I have less than 5 yards left, I think. I used one extra skein for his size (43″) because I added extra length to the body.
The design has lovely shoulder details, but this also made the shoulders really wide, making the fit a bit odd.
The side ribbing makes for a nice design element too.
Really, I have very mixed feelings about this sweater. I enjoy sweaters that have some extra roominess, but I’m not sure that’s Matt’s thing. I really don’t want to rip this thing out and start anew. We shall see what happens.
Now, get out and vote, America!
Well, I hope he does wear it. I think it looks great and he looks terrific in it. You could take your final 5 yards and add a couple or three rows to narrow the neck. My husband and sons are willing to forgive other details, but not a wide neck.
Good luck to him in his election today (and to all of us – it is so hard to knit with every finger and toe crossed hoping and pleading that sanity wins today.)
Okay, his pictures/poses cracked me up. And the yarn is absolutely lovely but if you don’t think he’ll wear it maybe it will need to find a new home 🙁
That’s a very fine sweater for election day. Good luck to your husband, he looks like a winner to me.
Oh I love the sweater and think it looks great! Do you think a (very) quick trip to the dryer might shrink it ever so slightly so that he’d enjoy the fit more?
Oooooh…that might be worth a shot!!! I don’t know why that didn’t even occur to me.
I’ve not done it myself but I’ve heard of people doing it! I guess the thing to do would be proceed with lots and lots of caution, ha!
Actually I’ve done this a few times with sweaters that weren’t going to get worn in their current form, so I wasn’t losing much if it didn’t work. (Happily it did all 3 times I can recall trying it)
Remember that things tend to shrink more in length than in width, but you could give it a little whirl in the washer or dryer and before it goes too far, take it out and stretch it to the dimensions you want.
How wonderful you knitted this for the hubbie. It looks great, definitely a cozying up jumper. Good luck to him.
Good luck to Matt today!
I think the sweater looks fine. It’s maybe too casual for work, but it’s too nice for a lounging at home sweater. Maybe it could be a taking the girls to the park sweater?
Oh I hope Matt got re-elected!
As to the sweater – I think it looks so good on him, especially the shoulder detail making it a real emphasis of masculinity and broadening the shoulders. The colour suits Matt so well and I hope for you he gets comfortable with the new fit and wears the jumper out, lots, professionally too. It looks so classy!
He was re-elected and we are excited about that.