Towns sweater, finished

It's finally done! It has been for a few weeks, actually, but we needed the weather to cooperate for some photos. After being together for twelve years (married more than nine) I finally knit a sweater for Nicholas.

Prior to casting on, I looked and looked on Ravelry for a men's sweater pattern that I would like to knit and that Nicholas would want to wear. Naturally, there are fewer options for men than women, when it comes to sweater patterns, and I also found many of the more simple silhouettes (my preference) had rather wide necklines. There are many sweater patterns noted to be unisex, but very few projects on Ravelry of those patterns actually knit for men. So after a lot of deliberation, we settled on the Towns Sweater, since I had previously knit an Ozetta pattern (my Lodge sweater, a very similar shape and construction, but with a split hem) and figured a simple, drop shoulder sweater would be a good fit.

I had some trial and error with needle size, and my gauge was not spot-on, so I chose a different size, accordingly.

Details

For more details, see my Ravelry project page.

Yarn: Knit Picks Simply wool aran, formerly called "Knit Picks Simply Wool Bulky." I do agree with the reclassification of this as an aran weight – it did not knit up for me as a bulky. Yarn was beautiful, a bit toothy, but still soft, non-superwash, and econimcal (I found it on sale, likely due to the relabeling of it as an aran vs a bulky).

Size: 47", but knit at a denser gauge for a slighly smaller finished size. Finished bust size was 44."

Pattern: Towns Sweater by Ozetta : Hailey Smedley

Needles: US 7 for the body and cuffs, US 8 for the bottom ribbing to avoid a "cinched in" hem.

Specifics/modifications: My row gauge was different, so I modified the sleeve decreases. Opted for a shorter, folded neck (no line of purl bumps). Added length to the body, and used a larger needle for the bottom hem, so it wouldn't cinch in.

And now, onto cooler weather and lots of sweater-wearing!