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Jackdaw.



Like I've written earlier (many times) this was one giant project and had I known how much work it would be before I started, I probably would have picked something else for Magnus's birthday present. Even the pattern states in its introductory text that "this is a long-haul project, so knit it for someone who's good company over the miles". Magnus is, so I guess the pullover is a perfect fit.

This was my third year in a row making him a sweater for his birthday, and it's something I'd very much like to make into a tradition. I started to make him a pullover the first year we started dating, but apparently the Swedish speaking Finns believe in a "sweater curse" which means that if a girl knits her boyfriend a sweater before they are married the relationship is doomed for sure. Magnus's mother and sister were dead set on not allowing me to finish the pullover, and Magnus had to wait another 7 years for his first me-made sweater. (He did receive hats and socks and other stuff though!) After our wedding I started knitting him a pullover for his b-day present and so the "tradition" began.


I really like everything about this pullover. But there is one thing I would do differently in the future: the pattern repeats for the front and back start at the same point in the chart (starting and ending with a cable) which means that there's always a "double" of cables at the beginning of every repeat at the sides after seaming the pieces together. So I'd change either back or front to start halfway up the chart so that the spacing between the cables would stay even all the way through.

One little change I made was shaping the shoulders with short rows instead of sloped bind off and then used three-needle bind off to "seam" them together - this way I didn't have to try and match the pattern on back and front when seaming. I also left out 8 last rows of the collar as I had already reached the target length.


Pattern: Jackdaw by Norah Gaughan
published in BT Men Volume 2
Yarn: Drops Baby Merino #19 medium gray
Needles: 2.5mm for ribbing and 3.5mm for main fabric


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Comments

  1. Kelsey LeftwichDecember 22, 2015 at 8:42 PM

    It looks so good!

    We have the sweater curse in the United States as well. I knit a sweater for my husband during our engagement and counted it as a wedding present!

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    Replies
    1. SariDecember 22, 2015 at 9:12 PM

      Oh, I didn't know that the sweater curse is so widely known :). I had never heard of it before Magnus's mother told me about it.

      I love that you made a sweater as a wedding present, such a sweet idea!

      Delete
  2. JulieDecember 22, 2015 at 11:50 PM

    Such an amazing, epic sweater- and it looks so good on him!! I've heard a lot about the sweater curse, and even though I've been married almost 7 years, still haven't knit my husband a sweater.... my guy always complains about being too warm, so I don't think he'd appreciate it. Which is a shame, because this is so inspiring!

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