1940 Valerie jumper - finished!

You might notice that I made these pics a while ago, in a session with my other jumpers. What I love about this jumper the most, is the fit! 

• It fits snugly, but not too tight
• the length is just perfect
• the placing of the shoulder line  is right
• I find the 3/4 sleeves very flattering
• besides that I'm charmed by the overall pattern and the tabs which add interest.

material & sizing:
I normally wear size small, the amount of yarn I used is 380g
This is just 20g short of 8 skeins of drops baby merino yarn, color 'electric blue'. Since the yarn was on sale I payed 2.60 euro for a skein instead of 3.60. This makes the total costs about 20 euros. Not bad!



For other posts of my Valerie jumper-series click here:

• introduction
• the not-so-easy tabs 
• the bodice 

Although I modified my version for a better fit below is the original pattern if you want to make it for yourself.




the original pattern:

1940 Valerie jumper - the (not so easy) tabs

Wel, I didn't expected the tabs being the hardest part of this project!
I've finished and ripped out the first one twice and had it right for the third try! Two mistakes I made: counting too much and calculating too little. I thought that the amount of stitches to cast on (96 sts) were way too many, so at first try I casted on way too few stitches. The second try I still didn't believe the original stitchcount could be right, but did it anyway. Sigh...thought so.
Below the third version with 74 stitches which worked perfect for me!
After assembling (left) and after steaming from the wrong side (right):
   

The finished tabs, after blocking - looking great!




One more to show you that (before blocking) my Valerie is slightly less wide than my Top Honors jumper:

1940 Valerie jumper - bodice, up to the armholes!

Just a quick catch-up before the weekend on the Valerie jumper:


Knitting in round this is what the sides look like. I increased by make ones, picking up and knitting the loop of the previous row. (more details on how to do this under the tab 'knitting hints'.


At the end of skein 3 (at about armhole height). I really love the 'dense'  structure and the 3-dimensional effect of the diamond pattern:




The front neckline, slightly altered. I widened it a bit but kept the shape which is somewehere between a V and a U




finished front:

1940 Valerie jumper - Introduction

Here it is, a new jumper post!
After knitting my first three 40's jumpers I must say I really enjoy the knitting process and love the fit. Can't wait to make more!


The first pattern above is from an online, 40's edition of the Australian Women's Weekly magazine, the second one was a free pattern, shared by a kind person on the internet and and the third one is from the website of the Victoria&Albert museum. After knitting those you might conclude that I love free patterns, bright colors and my current fav. yarn to use is the drops baby merino, knit with metric size 3 needles.
As you know I'm a bit torn between the 30's and the 40's for various reasons. For the next jumper pattern I went back to the AWW. Let me introduce you Valerie:

color: 33 'electric blue'

"Start knitting this attractive Valerie jumper now: a jumper that combines with your tailored tweeds to serve you smartly all winter through. Note the uncluttered neckline with it's quaint new trim. The pattern is a semi-open diamond stitch with ribbed neck tabs."

'Valerie' appeared in an early 1940 issue of the AWW, but it certainly could be a late 30's pattern. I think the unusual ribbed neck tabs (which I love!) are a rather 30's looking feature. 40's jumpers often have plain, rounded neck finished with ribbing and various versions of scarfs, ribbons, bows are one of the most common 30's feature i.m.o. Just think of Miss Lemon's style!
There are no puffy sleeves yet, and the sweater features a pretty overall diamond pattern too. The original color is blue, looking at the BW picture it could be a lighter shade, but I choose a vibrant 'electric blue' from drops baby merino which I've bought on sale. How about a pretty sweater for about 20 euro's?!!

the pattern chart: 

The pattern is rather simple but very decorative. You only need to use knit and purl stitches. You need to pay some attention, but after the first few repeats it is easy to memorize. You can spot mistakes right away and correcting them is easy as well.


the pattern diagram:
The AWW patterns don't include pattern diagrams though they can be helpful to understand the construction of a knitted garment. As you can see the sleeve-cap is quite different from the other two jumpers I made, because Valerie has a normal sleeve-cap with flat shoulders, without puff:


planned modifications:
- knit round (that way it is even easier to follow the pattern and there are more knit stitches which is faster for me)
- make the jumper with 3/4 sleeves
- use my 'standard stitchcount' for the bodice, since I need to enlarge the pattern a bit
- add more stitches towards the bustline if needed - the original pattern doesn't include increases

Next time I show you how pretty the diamond pattern looks!