October 28, 2004
The Mariner's Sweater
I finally got a picture of the recipient in the sweater last weekend. Ironically, the picture was taken in eastern Washington, which is pretty far from the sea. Oh well.
I have been in the habit of knitting things - sometimes sweaters, sometimes not - for very good friends who are having major birthdays. This was a 50th birthday present for the young man pictured, who is the husband of my dear friend Sybil and a buddy of my DH. I started it around the time of his 50th birthday, to be accurate, and he finally got it last spring when he had turned 52. He is a marine biologist, diver and sailor - hence the name, Mariner's Sweater. I was trying for a marine theme - you know - pilings, water, light filtered down to the diver.
Recognize it, anyone? The pattern is the Boat & Rope sweater from Alice Starmore's Sweaters for Men. I didn't do the cabled collar, though, as you can see, just a plain ribbed neck with some tubular rows at the end and a grafted bindoff.
The yarns: The dark color was Rowan's (long lamented) "Lambswool Tweed DK" in color Dark Ore, which is a very dark green. This is the color of the cables and also alternates in the background of the striped areas. The green, which is a little hard to see here, but is used in the darker stripes, is the same Lambswool Tweed DK in the Emerald color. The turquoise used in the brighter stripes is another wonderful, long-discontinued DK weight yarn, Jacques Fonty "Granit".
I truly love how this turned out, but it was slow going, as the combination of semi-garter stitch and slipped stitches really condenses the row gauge. Then there was the episode where I knit almost half of the back in the wrong color and had to rip out! There is another color of LTDK (Kohl) which looks a lot like Dark Ore when you are just reaching into a storage box in the yarn closet and not paying attention.
Katie
Posted by at October 28, 2004 08:22 PMReally nice sweater and very handsome man. It is true 'The Sweater makes the Man'. I'd love to see a close up shot of the stitches.
Posted by: Chery on October 28, 2004 11:54 PMI think it's hard finding just the right pattern and color combo for a guy sweater. You did a great job!
Posted by: Toni on October 29, 2004 12:11 AMwow katie! what a lucky guy :-) the colors are perfect.
Posted by: vanessa on October 29, 2004 03:18 AMkatie, why can't knitting magazines use photos like yours? great pose, great background and you can actually SEE what the sweater looks like!
Posted by: vanessa on October 29, 2004 03:21 AMKatie, your color choices are fabulous. A lot of vision and thought to make such a beautiful sweater! Out of curiosity, what colors were in the original version?
Posted by: sweatergirl on October 29, 2004 04:09 AMGreat colors! So much more appealing than the sort of blue and white color scheme in the book. You sort of specialize in this sweater, don't you??
Posted by: CarolineF on October 29, 2004 05:52 AMFantastic-looking sweater, and I learned something new by Googling for "tubular knit stitch". Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Roi on October 29, 2004 06:12 AMAt last, I get to see the man in the sweater instead of just the sweater. OooEEee, it's fabulous.
Posted by: Zeila on October 29, 2004 08:37 AMThanks, everyone! Caroline remembers that I knit this once before (that time for a 40th birthday) in oatmeal, light taupe and a muted green. I don't have digital pics of that one though, and to date my effort to scan the photo hasn't work too well.
The original (in the book) is WHITE (hence, the rope) with pale blue and bright blue. It's a little too contrasty for my taste, but AS's color sense wasn't as well developed back then compared to her later work (IMO, of course).
Posted by: Katie on October 29, 2004 10:05 AM