Fisherman's Rib Jumper

posted (or finished) Jun 27, 2022 in knitting
with tags Black Sparkles Jumpers

I didn’t really engage my brain when starting this. I was after a quick fix, but you’d think I’d know by now that quick fixes still need a gauge swatch. [Spoiler alert: I do not]. So I knitted the front, back, and most of a sleeve with the recommended needles before realising that I didn’t like the texture - it was a bit loose and airy and while not terrible, that wasn’t really what I was after. So, I ripped it back to the waistbands, and started again with a smaller needle (yes I did do a swatch this time). Much better.

I didn’t want the full collar but I wouldn’t have been able to even if I had. I bought the yarn with no specific project in mind (i.e. a completely random amount) so once I decided on the pattern I couldn’t do much more than eyeball it and think ’eh that’ll be fine’. And it was… sort of. Without the gauge alteration I don’t think I’d even have made it to the neckband; as it was I had to seam it with plain black yarn just to squeeze as much of a collar out of the sparkles as I could. Slightly foolish but it worked out in the end.

The yarn is just some cheap-and-cheerful sparkly acrylic I picked up because it sparked ✨joy✨, and the pattern is what I think counts as a ‘vintage’ pattern booklet from Woman’s Weekly. Not sure on the date, but probably late 50s/early 60s, judging by the shawl collar and lack of beehives. I’ve had it lying around in my pattern stash since I bought a job lot of ‘vintage’ patterns off eBay a few years back, so I’m glad to have finally made something from it.

This is (arguably) my most-travelled project of recent times - as you can see from the action shots it’s been to London, it’s been to Brighton, it’s spent a few pleasant afternoons in the local park. I do love a bit of knitting in public, even if I do forget the official day pretty much every year. It smells of the sea, a particular handcream I’ve been keeping in my bag, and maybe a little bit of grass. Nice.



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