Slumberland

I’ve been working on a Three Hour Sweater, from this 1930s vintage pattern, found via this knitalong at Craftster. It promises “three hours” because it’s made on big needles (US 15/10mm for the bulk of it). But it’s not bulky yarn. It’s worsted, probably light worsted at that. It’s only just over 100 stitches around at the chest — usually if you are knitting something that is 100 stitches on worsted yarn, it’s a hat, not a sweater! The pattern sounded kind of unbelievable. But a couple of people tried it and said that it not only works, it runs a bit large! So I thought, what the heck, I’d try it.

The pattern called for a yarn that is no longer made, Germantown Zephyr. Supposedly Cascade 220 is an exact modern equivalent. I had a bag full of vintage yarn I got at Goodwill, and I figured I’d try it for the pattern. It wasn’t until I was already swatching that I noticed that the yarn was Brunswick Germantown, which is pretty much the same thing as Germantown Zephyr or Cascade 220. Clearly I was fated to knit this sweater. The color is “Tornado,” a gray blue.

So here it is, 8 days after I started. I didn’t keep track of the time I spent, but it was way more than 3 hours. I think 12 is closer to it. I’m a slow knitter and also read while knitting, which doesn’t help. It’s not finished yet — I need to crochet edging around the neckline, and probably rip out the sleeves and put them back in as I don’t think I did it right. But it’s pretty close to finished and you can see what it looks like.

It does run large, which is pretty darned shocking for a sweater made up of so few stitches, and less than 600 yards of yarn. It’s very comfortable, but awfully loose around the waist.

I might make another, and if I do I will probably make it a bit smaller and shape the sides. And I will stand up straighter when photographing it.