It's all good

I finished the Portuguese Fisherman’s Sweater.

Front…

Back…

Now, there is no historical basis for this pattern other than the fact that a version of it was shown in a 1970’s craft magazine. I’ve tried to track down if there is a ‘style’ of the Portuguese fisherman’s sweaters, maybe the equivalent of the British Gansey. But as far as I’ve been able to find, there is not really a defined style. Of course, if anyone knows something I don’t (not a hard thing to do), I would love to hear about it.

The original plan was to work out this pattern and knit it using the Portuguese style of knitting. Unfortunately, that was too slow for me and I got frustrated so I didn’t follow through with that. Maybe I’ll do something smaller so I can pick up some speed.

The original pattern was done in 2 strands of a cotton yarn. As you may know, I don’t do cotton. Plus I had this yarn I’d bought and dyed that I wanted to use and seemed to be in the rustic spirit of a fisherman’s sweater. It’s all good.

I didn’t use the original pattern because I wanted to see if I could figure it out on my own. I can’t tell you how inordinately pleased I am with it. I still need to wash it and block the collar but it is so comfortable and, I think, charming. I also wasn’t sure about having the placket when I already have so much up front! But it’s all good.

I’ve made pretty good notes so I’m going to try to get the pattern written out. I’m so enamored of it that I really want to do another one – maybe with some Berroco Ultra Alpaca. I think I would get pretty much the same gauge and it would be a whole different feel. Maybe I’ll use that to test the pattern once I’ve got it written up. I may also, if she wants one, try to make one for my mother. She’s much smaller than I so it would be my opportunity to work out the pattern for a small size. Now she does like cotton (and lives in Texas) so I might just break down and do hers with something I can live with knitting.

Of being knitterly

The weather has turned cold (with a bit of a vengeance, actually) and with the cold weather comes the return of the delight I feel at being a knitter. Each morning when I get up and decide which knits I’m going to wear that day, whether it be sweater, shawl, stole, scarf, socks or gloves. I’m awash with knits. I knit those knits. And it feels wonderful to venture out into the world wearing the knits I knit.

There’s really nothing that can compare to the knitterly satisfaction (and condescension, I have to admit) I feel wearing these beautiful hand crafted garments and pitying the people who wear only store-bought, factory-produced knits or, worse still, no knits at all. Pity the poor knitless ones.

I’m getting very close to finishing my Portuguese Fisherman’s Sweater. The sleeves have been a little bit of a challenge. I probably could have knit a whole new sweater for the time I took starting, ripping out, starting over, etc.

I decided to do the sleeves top down and it was a bit like the 3 bears – first I picked up way too few stitches, then I picked up way too many stitches but finally I think I got it just right. But then you have the problem of how far you decrease the stitches and then how to sort out the edging. Since the body had a split edging, I thought I might do the same for the cuff. But I shall have to do one last ripping out and do the cuff solid, I think.

Once I finish the second sleeve – which lacks about 3 inches – I will need to do the collar and then I’m done.

Portuguese Fisherman's Sweater

This is going really fast and I'm pleased with it so far. I'm thinking I could have started the placket a little sooner to make it a little longer but it's fine. Next time. Also next time I will do what I meant to do here which was, when I got to the placket, increase for every stitch in the placket and then move those extra stitches off onto a holder ready to knit up. That would have been much easier than picking up those stitches later! I did also pick up stitches along the right-side edge for every other row and then knitted them off as I went. That was a good move because it made a neat edge and meant I didn't have the bulk of a seam.

Please excuse me while I do my happy dance.

I can’t believe I’ve actually almost finished with this beautiful shawl. This is the Paisley Long Shawl from Fiddlesticks minus the fringe which will take a little bit to do but I’m so pleased with it. I did find one mistake as I was blocking it but I can live with it. Ain’t it purty?


If I get a picture of it tomorrow with the fringe I'll post again. It's huge. I can't find my tape measure (yeah, I know, I can't find any of the 50 or so tape measures that I own) but I reckon it's about 7 feet long and about 30 inches across. And I didn't even block it hard. The fringe will add about 11 more inches to the overall length but I think it will set it off beautifully. I have to reiterate that if you want a challenge knitting lace with the best instructions, this is the company to go for. Here's a link to the designs page. I actually bought the kit, something I don't normally do and I made the pattern in the garter stitch it called for, something else I rarely do. I will end up with almost a whole skein of yarn left over. In all fairness, they did recommend 2 skeins if you're not doing the fringe and 3 if you're doing the fringe. I got 3 skeins because I didn't want to get caught short. Nevermind. I think I already know what I'm going to do with the 3rd skein - about 600 yards' worth.

I’ve started a sweater with some yarn that I bought from Stitches a couple of years ago. It was on sale on a cone so I’m hoping that there will be enough for the sweater. Because it was on a cone, I was advised to skein it and wash it before I started working with it, which I did. I also decided I wanted to dye it. It was an oatmeal color but I thought this red might be pretty so I broke out the old kool-ade and dyed away. The red came out a real rustic color so I’m going to just do a basic, rustic pattern and I think I'm going to borrow heavily from the Portuguese Fisherman's sweater I found in the old magazine from the 70's.

Portuguese Fisherman meets the '70s

Just a quick post with a photo of a 1970's American Home Crafts magazine version of a Portuguese Fisherman's sweater. I like the look but it's not like any of the other pics I've been able to find of a traditional pattern. Any thoughts or ideas of where I would find references for this type of sweater?