FO: The Guilt Sweater

The Guilt Sweater is done! Not only that, but it fits and he loves it. He really likes the feel of the yarn, so hopefully it will hold up for a while. (This is the old Patons Classic Wool, not the new stuff.)

As he requested, it has bracelet-length… uh, I mean “watch-length” sleeves, and the ribbing at the neck is high enough to cover the neckline of a t-shirt.

It was interesting knitting it from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s “pithy” instructions, but I just forged blindly ahead and it all worked out. Well, the second time, anyway. I redid the sleeves because Larry thought the original sleeve size might be a little too small, but larger sleeves threw off the sizing of the saddle and shoulders, and it was a total fail, so I had to rip out the top and start the sleeves again with the original number. Not surprisingly, it all worked out fine that way. That Elizabeth was a clever one.

I tried it on myself, and although it was just a bit too big, I liked the lines of it, so I’ll probably make one for myself one of these days.

And of course, with the sweater of guilt out of the way, I’ve bought myself plenty of time for selfish knitting.

Pattern: Seamless Hybrid with Shirt Yoke, by Elizabeth Zimmermann
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino, color 77115 “New Denim”
Needles: US 7/4.5mm for body, US 5/3.75mm for ribbing
Ravelry: project page, pattern page

Pattern notes: I did a phony seam on the sides of the body, as well as down the back of each sleeve. Since I wasn’t sure about the sleeves, instead of doing them cuff-upward, I used a provisional cast-on to cast-on the ending number of stitches and worked them downward for about 2″ before putting them on waste yarn. Then I joined them to the body according to the pattern and finished the yoke and neck. When everything else was done, I worked the sleeves downward.

It’s a little difficult to tell from the photos, but the neck opening is square, not round – but the ribbing makes it look fairly round.