I’ll make an attempt at recreating Miss Lemons red jumper, the one that at first glance looks like a cardigan. I’ll use a rib pattern from one of my books for the body of the jumper. The band at centre front will be made in k1 p1 rib, as will the bows.

I cast on 40 sts for both bows and blocked them. They look good, but are very drapey. I hope they’ll behave as they should, if not I’ll just have to knit new ones in a crisper yarn.

I cast on 145 sts for the front and increased to 154, it’s knitting up comfortably, but at a leisurely pace, so it might take a while…

June 30th: knitting the centre front band, and I’ve decided to let it end where the rib finishes and the main stitch starts.

After studying still pictures from the Poirot movies I rather think the ribbing at the waist extends further than mine, but it’s such a small detail I’m not bothered by it. I also think that the neck has been reinforced with an elastic on the inside of the fabric. It looks as if it’s been sewn on. There might also be a casing with an elastic inside.

July 6th: I decided to shape some lingerie fold over elastic to fit the neck, stitch it down, pick up stitches along the neck line and knit an edge which I then folded down and stitched in place. It looks rather good, and the neck retains its shape well even with the bow in place.

I finished the first sleeve, but frogged it to where the sleeve cap decreases started, as I needed the sleeve cap bigger. I then decided the sleeve was too long (the pattern calls for a 20 inch seam), and frogged it again. Hopefully for the last time.

August 6th, Yay! Second sleeve finished! Now for stitching it all together and deciding on buttons :)

Done! Huzza!

I used a total of 415 grammes which equals almost 14oo meters of the red yarn.

I’ve reinforced the shoulder seams by sewing on cotton tape along the seams, and I also reinforced the centre front behind the bows.

If I were to knit this jumper again I’d make the welt longer, some 5 inches and I’d use another stitch. Probably something like k5, p1. I’d also shorten the armscye.

The fabric really is very very elastic. I think it would be best to aim for at least 4 inches negative ease. As I lost weight and thereby inches over the bust the jumper has 2 inches of negative ease on me, and I’m considering taking it in some at the sides. The fabric also stretches in length (could be the yarn that does it), so I’d make it 2 inches shorter.

The camera seems to overdo the flash, so colour is darker in real life.

I’ve posted the pattern in its entirety on my blog: http://vintagegranny.blogspot.no/2013/09/pattern-for-red-...

Update 19/1-15:
The jumper keeps growing. I measured the width and as far as I can tell it has expanded from 36 inches to 38.5 inch so I’ve decided to take it apart and make some changes to it.

I’ll raise the waist ribbing by some 3 inches by pulling out the yarn from a stitch at the centre front and centre back where I want the ribbing to start, cut it, and thereby release the stitches. I read about this method in one of my vintage Odhams knitting books, and it sounded like a clever way of doing it. Will then work the ribbing till it’s some 5 inches long and graft it back on.

I might also take in the jumper some, and most likely knit gussets to raise the armscye. Will decide on that once the ribbing is completed and grafted back on. The sleeves have also gotten too wide and sagged some, will most likely do changes to them as well.

January 21st: Using the method described above to release the stitches worked very well. I used a darning needle to thread a fine cotton yarn through them and unravelled the lower pieces down to the ribbing. Will knit until the ribbing measures 5 inches , do the increases and then graft the ribbing back onto the front and back. I am increasing the tension on the ribbing, hoping it will be firmer and keep its shape better this time around.

22/1-15
Tightening the tension made quite a difference. Decided to reknit the entire waist ribbing.

03/02-15
Finished the ribbing. Stitched the two pieces together and tried it on. Fits perfectly, but it seems to get shorter when stretched, so will take it apart and knit another inch and a half.

07/02-15
6.5 inches is the perfect length for the ribbing. Will attach the ribbing to the rest of the front and back, taking in the jumper at the sides. Then I’ll knit gussets for the armscyes.

13/02-15
Done, again :)
Will upload new pictures later.