Fair Isle for Spring to wear out when the sun shines
"Carefree and colourful sweater for him uses sparkling motif designs to wear out and about over the week-end when the sun shines"
Carefree it may be.. but a double knitting fair-isle for Spring? That's a novel idea. However, I'm sure "a thick sweater to wear on a wet Spring weekend" is also a suitable maxim, so here we are.
[Editor's note: Here we are indeed.... I wrote this at the end of February - and now on March 11th we have sub-zero temperatures and blizzards raging in the South of England (and the Channel Islands). So this sweater choice.... "just perfick" for March.]
The main picture is a low resolution photo that does not quite show the pattern detail to the full; this is because I just had to include the wonderful backdrop to the sweater with record player and vinyl albums. These cool cats are from the early sixties but are listening to 1950s American jazz. You can see more clearly how the pattern looks in the chart at the end.
InstructionsTwo sizes are given, with the larger size created by using a larger sized
needle. Do check your tension with whatever yarn type you use, as the
fair-isle patterning will tend to make the knitted fabric tighter than
normal. Back:** [Editor's note: The original instructions are written out line by line as reproduced below. I have created a chart which you can see at the end of the pattern.] Change to No 8 (4mm) [7 (4½mm)] needles, join in white (W), and star pattern as follows: 1st row (right side facing):
knit: 1W; * 5C, 1W; repeat from *
to end. Break C and join in Nasturtium Red (N). 8th row: purl: *
5N, 3W, 3N, 3W, 4N; repeat from *
to last stitch, 1N. Repeat rows 7 through to 1 inclusive, in that order. (That is, the reverse
of what you just knitted). Rejoin W and continue as follows:- 19th row: knit: , *
3C, 1W, 2C, repeat from * to last
stitch, 1C Break C and join in N Break N and rejoin C repeat rows 26 - 19 inclusive in that order (that
is, reversed as in previous sequence) Continue in snowflake pattern as follows:- 1st row: purl. Rejoin W Rejoin W Repeat the last 8 rows 5 [4 or 5] times more, then rows 1-5 inclusive again. Shape armholes: Cast off 8 sts. at the beginning of the next 2 rows. Rejoin W. 1st row: k2tog W; knit: 5C,
* 1W, 5C; repeat from *
to last 2 stitches, k2tog W. 8th row: purl: 2N, *
3W, 3N, 3W, 9N; repeat from * to last
11 stitches, 3W, 3N, 3W, 2N. 9th row: k2tog, knit: 1W, *
(1C, 2W) 3 times, 7C, 2W; repeat from *
to last 10 stitches, (1C, 2W) twice, 1C, 1W, k2tog. 16th row: purl. Next row: k2tog W, knit: 5C, *
1W, 5C; repeat from * to
last 2 stitches, k2tog W. Next row: purl. Next row: purl. Keeping continuity of pattern continue decreasing 1 stitch at each end of every alternate row until 47 stitches remain. Pattern back and leave stitches on a spare needle. Front:Work as for back from ** to **. Shape neck: Next row: k2tog, k16, k2tog, turn and leave remaining stitches on a spare needle. Continue in pattern on first 18 stitches, decreasing 1 stitch at each end of every knit row until 2 stitches remain. K2tog and fasten off. With right side facing, return to remaining stitches, slip centre 25 stitches, on a spare needle, rejoin wool to last 20 stitches, k2tog., pattern to last 2 stitches, k2tog. Finish to correspond with first side. Sleeves:With No 10 needles and C, cast on 56 stitches and work 3 inches k1, p1 rib. Next row: *
k2, knit twice in next stitch, repeat from *
to last 2 stitches, k1, knit twice in last stitch. [75 sts] Change to No. 8 [7] needles, join in W and continue in snowflake pattern as follows:- 1st row: knit:
1C, 1W, * 5C, 1W; repeat from *
to last stitch, 1C. 2nd row: purl. 5th row: knit: 5C, *
1W, 5C; repeat from * to end. 6th row: purl. Keeping continuity of pattern increase 1 stitch at each end of the next and every following 6th row until there are 109 stitches. Work straight until 13 complete patterns and 2 rows of 14th have been done from start. Now shape top working as for back from †† to †† : 55 stitches remain. Next row: purl. Keeping continuity of snowflake pattern decrease 1 stitch at each end of every row until 5 stitches remain. Leave these stitches on a spare needle. To Make UpPress parts on wrong side under a damp cloth, avoiding ribbing. Join remaining raglan seam. Press all seams, avoiding ribbing. |
Materials
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Snowflake Pattern Chart
Chart of the first pattern section as given for the Back. This shows the pattern detail not fully visible in the main photo.
Cool Cats and their American Jazz
From the original photo I can just make out the records in the foreground - the ones on the sofa behind the models defeat me...
The Duke Jordan Trio look like they are on the turntable (if not our model's companion is bending the vinyl in the sleeve to an ill-advised angle). The album was recorded on January 28th 1954. Tracks are: Jordu, Scotch Blues, Wait And See, Darn That Dream, Embraceable You, Just One Of Those Things, They Can't Take That Away From Me, and, Confirmation.
Next up for consideration (our model is reading the sleeve notes) is "Krupa and Rich" - both drummers - with an eponymous recording from 1956.
Examples of the music can be found on You Tube.
The record player
It has to be a Dansette doesn't it?
I have to admit I was totally ignorant about this famous brand until very recently. I can't exactly say they were before my time, as they were manufactured between 1952 and 1969, and we did have a record player in that era which was likely to have been a Dansette, but I cannot remember it well enough to say one way or the other.
As to the model in the picture - it looks a bit like the "Bermuda" shown on this fabulous site, though there are some differences. It seems likely as Julie says: "The Dansette Bermuda is by far the model we have the most of in all colours".