Sublime Jumper

I particularly admire the tendency of Sublime pattern books, to contain quite a few patterns for men and boys. Especially impressive is the uncanny ability to write patterns that both appeal to the ultra conservative males of my family, and are reasonably interesting to knit. This is an uncommon combination of qualities. Here is the latest wild success, a red (0167) version of the Hot Chocolate/Oxford Blue jumper from the Third Cashmere Merino Silk Aran Book. Although my model is fashionably solemn, he likes this jumper very much - as he should. I have used the incredibly luxurious cashmere silk merino Aran yarn for a 9 year old boy. This is possibly rather unwise, as 9 year old boys are not known for either their scrupulous care of special garments, nor for staying the same size for long enough to wear out such a garment. However, after this particular boy spent half an hour patting all the yarns in the shop, and declared this one the softest I felt that someone with such natural good taste was worthy of this special yarn. I have made the smallest size (61/66cm chest), adding 5cm to the length of the body and arms to account for the slimness of the recepient in comparison to his height. The rib pattern should stretch, should he become more robust over winter. Making such an adjustment sounds remarkably sensible, and would have been even more sensible had I actually read the pattern dimensions before starting the jumper. I tweaked the neck finishing so that the centre rib panels matched the body of the jumper, being fond of symmetry. Above is the first section of the first attempt at the jumper, in the smallest size + 10 cm, with swatch - as evidence that I even checked my tension in this stretchy rib pattern. The back was rather too long, causing much laughter from his sisters when I held it up against the recipient, and was an entirely self inflicted mistake. Rather than ravelling all this knitting, I have declared that next year, my 10 year old will have a handsome blue version (Clipper 0015) of the same jumper. Growth is not always a bad thing.