A Quick Knit in Stocking Stitch

I decided a while ago that it's OK to have more than one project on the needles at the same time, as long as they are all progressing  and not stalled.  And I need to have some knitting that I can do at the same time as reading or watching TV, otherwise I feel that I am wasting valuable knitting time.  My Color Affection shawl was meant to be TV knitting, because it's all garter stitch, but actually I have to watch it all the time.  I have been knitting it since last November, and it is growing - just not very fast.  It's become the project that I take to knit-and-natter groups, so I keep doing a couple of hours work on it regularly, and it will get finished some time, don't know when.

While Color Affection has been growing imperceptibly, I needed some TV knitting, and I wanted something fast.  So I have been knitting a plain stocking stitch jumper for myself.  I started it in January and have just finished it.

It was based on a Marriner pattern from the early 1960s, although the relationship is more  distant than I intended.  It was the collar I liked, mainly:  jumpers with turn-down collars were very popular at that time, and this seemed a nice example. I like how the collar has turned out, but it isn't really very similar to the illustration.  In practice, I could not see how to get the two front edges of the collar overlapping as shown.  And actually, I don't see how it could work, now that I think about it: the two sides of the collar have to overlap about an inch above the button, but there is nothing to hold them together there.

Marriner 559

I had to adapt the pattern anyway - the original was written for 4-ply (fingering weight) yarn, and I wanted to use double knitting (Wendy Merino DK).   So my jumper is based on a basic DK raglan-sleeved jumper pattern, modified to have three-quarter sleeves with turn-back cuffs.  But I followed the original Marriner instructions in knitting the collar and the front bands, suitably adapted for the thicker yarn.  The back of the collar is deeper than the fronts - the extra depth is created with short rows.  I'm intrigued by the possibilities of short rows, and wanted to see how it worked here.  And the collar works very well - it sits nicely, even if nothing like the original.

I must confess that the button is a cheat.  I did make a buttonhole, but then realised that (a) it was in the wrong place and (b) I wouldn't know what the right place was until I had finished the collar.  And that the neck opening was big enough to go over my head anyway.  So I just sewed the button through both layers of the button band. 

Now that the jumper is finished, I have chosen my next TV knitting project.  I can cope with more complicated stitch patterns than stocking stitch without looking at what I'm doing, and it's going to be a wide rib with twisted stocking stitch - more details later.

Meanwhile, I have started the Baht 'At fingerless mitts from Born and Bred.   I have had the pattern and the yarn (Titus from Baa Ram Ewe) for weeks, but have been restraining myself from starting it until I finished the Marriner jumper. I am using the wool holder I bought on eBay, and that's proving useful to keep the yarn tidy and in place.

I went to my regular Thursday knit-and-natter this morning, and knitted 2 stripes (4 rows) of the Color Affection shawl.  I counted the number of stripes I still need to do, before I get to the final border:  29.    It was possibly a mistake to count them - it's a bit daunting.  Still, I should finish it this year if I keep at it.