My Beau

Every year, my beau, the best husband ever, gets a sweater. He wears them, sometimes, every day. He appreciation and pride for the hand knits makes the process a joy for me. He helps me pick the yarn, the pattern and gets all excited whenever he sees me working on it. I love knitting for him. 2009 was no different, even though it was stretched to the very end of the year, he got a sweater.

He has a Cambridge Jacket, and a Cobblestone (mine), and of the two he prefers the zip up style of the jacket, so he requested his next sweater be of that style. It really is more versatile for southern life, where wool sweaters are not required in the same way as they are up north. He also went through my books and requested this for his next sweater. Those two requests being completely opposite, required some knit-mods on my part. I was feeling brave so I decided I was up to the task.

The modified Beau on my beau.

Basically, I followed the pattern for size small, but just knit the front in two pieces, adding an extra stitch at the center front (for each side), which I knit on the right side and slipped on the left side to form a nice edge where the zipper would go. Then I eliminated the bind-offs where the placket was supposed to be and incorporated those extra decreases into the neck shaping. Everything else was just the same as the pattern. There was a little ripping and fixing in the neck area, but mostly that's because I wasn't paying attention.

To put in the zipper, I followed Grumperina's directions, and added a striped grosgrain ribbon to make it look finished. I thought about putting it in the sewing machine, but in the end I chickened out on that. It's time consuming to do all that hand finishing, but well worth it.

Overall, I'm pleased with it. I think it's a little snug in the shoulders, which is something I'll have to address for the 2010 sweater, but he's happy and it's been well worn so far.

Pattern: Beau from Rowan Vintage Knits zippified.
Yarn: Filatura Lanarota Chaco, purchased at Rhinebeck in 2007. It's a standard worsted 100% wool (just under 6 balls, I still have 4 more left)
Needles: US size 5 and 7 from knitpicks harmony interchangeables (love!)
Zipper purchased from zipperstop to get the correct length.