FO: Golden Eileen knitted jumper, circa 1941

Wow, it’s really been ages since I’ve finished knitting something but what a sense of accomplishment!

The pattern is Eileen, from Patons and Baldwins Specialty Knitting 79 printed around 1941 according to Trove.

I was really drawn to this pattern because of the tiny cables surrounded by dropped stitches, I love knitting anything with an interesting texture.

The yarn is Knitpicks Comfy Fingering (cotton blend in Semolina yellow), and I’m fairly happy with it. It’s nice to knit with, has a bit of a drape and hasn’t pilled much yet.

Being an old pattern, there was some general weirdness I encountered in the sizing but I’ll share that below.

The pattern was originally sized to fit a 38 inch bust, but I modded it to fit a bit larger – probably shouldn’t have bothered as it’s very stretchy and would fit a 42 inch bust easily.

MODS:

• Only made 4 inches of rib (the original called for much more).
• Originally planned to increase 1 stitch in each panel of plain knitting to make it 39 inch bust, but needn’t have bothered.
• Used 3mm needles on the rib and the body.
• Lack of stretch in the rib meant I cast on more stitches here and decreased down on the first row afterwards.
• The chest and shoulder depth were all quite short so I worked extra rows here to add an inch.
• Worked an extra inch in the sleeve cap to match the extra depth on the chest.