Fast Forward: Lace and Ribs, January 1967

EDIT March 6th, 2023: Finished!

Since the February 1965 issue of Stitchcraft didn’t have any projects that interested me enough to want to make them, I spent this month working on some eternal WIPs. One of them was this “slim style sweater” in a lace-and-rib pattern from Stitchcraft’s January 1967 issue.

If “Fast Forward, January 1967” seems familiar to you, you are not wrong! I had already made this wonderful “Fashion for Tots” children’s jacket a couple of years ago, and tried my hand at a pleated skirt “pinafore” intended to go over this slim-style sweater (see picture below). The pinafore dress was, unfortunately, a failure, as the wool was too heavy and the finished garment just sagged and sagged. I ended up frogging the whole thing and using the wool for my very first blog project, the Green check jumper from January 1960. Notwithstanding the pinafore, the January 1967 issue is incredible and has so many projects in it that I want to make that it’s a go-to when I can’t find anything I like in a current issue.

The lace-and-ribs jumper was a perfect fit for my stash of green Slow Wool Lino yarn that I picked up a couple of years ago while working on a project in a different city. Sadly, the yarn has been discontinued, so the 300 grams I bought was all there was to be had in this colour (I managed to get 400 grams of salmon pink and made this lovely non-Stitchcraft Clarel last year, as well as 400 grams of bright purple and 300 grams of grey-brown for future projects unknown, at least). Would it be enough?

The body is made in 4×3 ribbing and the “lacy” pattern on the yoke and sleeves is made by doing two yarn-overs ater one another and knitting and purling them on the next row or round, making more of an open rib pattern rather than a true lace. Ribbing eats up yarn, but openwork uses less, so it was hard to call. In anticipation that it might not be enough, I made the sweater from the bottom up in the round and the sleeves knitted-on from the top down. That way, I could use a different wool for the sleeve cuffs and/or neck ribbing if necessary, or make short sleeves, or cap sleeves, or no sleeves.

As it turned out, I was able to exactly use up the 300 grams of yarn to make the sleeves in the normal length. Only the neck ribbing remained. Nobody on Ebay or Ravelry had any Slow Wool Lino on offer in this shade, so I visited my lovely local yarn shop and bought a skein of Rowan Moordale in a slightly lighter shade of green. It’s also slightly thicker and fluffier than the Slow Wool Lino and quite soft, so it worked fine for the neck ribbing.

The finished jumper fits fine, feels soft and comfortable, and looks great. I wore it to my Monday night knit group and we had fun recreating one of the original photos.

Very happy with this project!