Fisherman’s Rib Sweater by friday knits

11 Jan

I finished this jumper two weeks ago, and I’ve already worn it more than any other jumper I’ve knitted. But, I made a major mistake so I thought that I’d write about it here!

The Pattern

The pattern is the Fisherman’s Rib Sweater by Friday Knits. I took part in the test knit because I knew that it would be a really versatile jumper for me, and there are a few new-to-me techniques that I wanted to try. It’s a full fishermans rib, which isn’t a difficult stitch to do, but it does take twice as long and twice as much yarn than a regular rib. The pattern was easy to follow, it’s a fairly basic raglan after the neckline, and the neckline itself is a nice double knit which mans that it looks the same right and wrong side.

The Yarn

So this is where I messed up. I wanted a fully merino yarn, because I’m at least mildly allergic to the other sweaters that I’ve made and I wanted to see if it was all wool or just the rougher stuff I was using. Because it was a bit of an experiment, and it’s a pattern that takes twice as much yarn than usual, I wanted to economise. Drops Daisy is one of the cheapest merino yarns that you can get, and it comes in a good range of colours so it sounded ideal.

And then I read the reviews. The trend was that it was super soft yarn, but that it pilled a lot.

And then I ignored the reviews. And now I have a jumper that pills like mad. I still love the jumper, but it’s definitely one to be worn at home and not necessarily out and about.

Final Thoughts

I love this jumper, and like I said at the top of this post, it’s gotten way more wear than anything else I’ve knitted. If I could magic it to be made with a different yarn, it would be perfect. But I can’t, and it took so long to make that I’m not going to make another, so I’ll just have to be happy with it as it is. I would recommend the pattern though! I think it’s really versatile and would be ideal for any beginners who want to stretch their abilities a bit or who want a longer project to work on. It gets fairly mindless once you’re past the raglan part, and learning how to fix fishermans rib/brioche is a skill that I know will come in handy for me in the future!