Wrapped in Wool: The Geraldine Pullover

I’m always grumbling about how I need more pullovers, and I’m really looking forward to wearing my Geraldine Pullover this fall. This sweater is somewhere halfway in between cropped and full length. It’s slightly longer than waist length so it hits at the perfect point to be worn with high waisted skirts and pants. For this sweater I really wanted to create something that was cozy and comfortable with a bit of a vintage vibe.

Before the collection idea really came into being, I struggled with what style sweater to put these charts on. The original plan was to make a 40s vest-inspired sweater. The body would be striped with the charts and would have a V-neck and a deep band of ribbing at the waist, and the sleeves would be full length in a contrasting solid color. I liked that idea and I still do, but I realized that I wouldn’t really enjoy knitting quite that much colorwork and it would be a challenge to try to add shaping to that without spoiling the motifs. That idea got put on the back burning because if I was dreading the idea of knitting that design, other people probably would to. I loved my charts, and I wanted to put them on something everyone would love to knit, so for a time I debated making a much more modern looking, heavier, circular yoke cardigan. But that’s not really my style, and it didn’t have the vintage look I was going for.

And then one day I showed my roommate at the time, also a knitter, what I was working on, and she said, “Are you going to do something like that vintage sweater you knit?” I stared blankly at her for a minute, and then I said yes. This design let me do the shaping and fit that I was originally dreaming of with my vest-inspired idea, but it would have a much more reasonably sized dose of colorwork. I’m really happy that I went in that direction, and I love the way it turned out.

This sweater is made seamlessly using my usual construction method. The upper back is knit first, and then the front is picked up from the cast on edge of the back and knit down. The front and back are joined when the underarms are cast on, and the body is knit from the top down in the round. Sleeves are picked up from the armholes and shaped using short rows. I designed the sweater to be worn with a bit of negative ease through the bust and positive ease through the sleeves. You can read more about it or buy the pattern on its Ravelry page.