Knitted Purple mohair aran, and seperate hood - and free vintage chunky aran pattern

 

 

My Mum saved this from some magazine I think back in the late 70s or maybe early 80s. 

There does not seem to be a date on it and I do not know which magazine it was from though she did like Womans Weekly back then so thats the most likely. Its meant to be in chunky gauge yarn but that means most old 1980s mohair will knit about the same. I was never very keen when I was a kid on this pattern but when I thought about it in purple it got a whole new feel to it. I was not sure I had enough yarn in the violet which I used for the main colour and I had only 10 x 50g balls of this ( bought second hand from Ebay for £6 plus postage back in 2017) in the violet which just about did for both jumper and hood, but that was because I used various other shades of purples for the twisted ribbing. I used 5.5mm needles for the twisted rib and 6.5mm needles for the main body because these are what I had and they seemed to give the right tension for the yarn. I knitted the smallest size knowing it will turn out sightly larger due to needle sizes etc. Its turned out just right so this has all worked for me.

 

That twisted ribbing was a killer by the way. I cannot just knit into the back of the stitch like it says because it just does not work for me so had to use a cable needle for every twist. so every other stitch ont eh front rows. I used two cable needles when I got to the body part.

 

 

It seemed to go on forever when it came to the hood. Well what a boring project that was. Also the instructions say to increase on both sides for the hood and I think having done that that its wrong. You should just increase on one side but never mind. My hood and the original picture are not the same. Its does not matter because it still worked and its going to be very cozy when walking my dogs on a cold day soon.

 I have never yet managed the basic knit of making a scarf. I just find it so boring. I did manage an infinity scarf the other year but really that was because I was making a jumper that is knitted in strips and decided to go down a needle size ( and it even then worked out huge!). I decided to just start again when I did that and did not bother unpicking the original strip so ended up with this small piece that made for a good infinity scarf when the ends were joined. I have worn it as well so worth keeping what would have been a scrap bit of knitting otherwise.

You can see that huge jumper here. I do not seem to have a photo of the snood but its in the same multi coloured stitch as the side strips. This was a very easy beginner pattern in fact though maybe a smaller needle would work better next time. I watched a You tube video that explains what happeed here. I matched the needle to what it says on the yarn and not what the pattern says. Pattern says 6mm needle,  yarn says 10mm though I actually used 8mm but still its too big to get the tension right. Never mind a lesson learned with that one.

 

 

It does work when I want to just curl up and be comfy but its not really the best jumper I ever made and not even the best version of that pattern I have made because like many jumpers I knitted recently already knitted that pattern back in the 80s and more than once!

Anyway back to this. My perfect as in no dodgy bits anywhere aran. I actually spent loads of time with this one unpicking large amounts. sometimes it got ripped back for the last 3 days worth of knitting when I realised there was a mistake. I am I think getting much better at knitting and back to what I could do in the 80s when I was always knitting something. I am hoping these jumpers will now last until I have time to do this again so probably in about 12 years when maybe if they do not again change the rules on me I will get to retire. Thats if I can still knit with my old hands by then as well. Ah well, at least I will have lots of nice knitwear for the next 10 years or so.

And these are the instructions in case anyone 

wants them

 

I was trying here to show you my very much hard work ribbing so ignore the silly face please!

The hood is knitted as a strip. You are told to increase on both sides but thats almost certainly wrong. Then you fold in half,  sew up one side and pick up and knit along the front edge with normal ribbing. I did stripes again. The pattern has a button fastening but I think probably it could come updone when wearing so I just joined it and knitted in the round.

This is where I just picked up and joined via knitting. No sewing!

 

The front showing ribbed edge. Its stripey tho that is hard to see here.

I am proud of this though its not really very interesting but this hood really seemed to go on forever.

If I had not included the other purple shades in the ribbing I would not have had enough yarn so beware if you knit this in mohair you need probably 13 or 14 x50g balls to be on the safe side. I actually do not know how many extra balls of yarn I used because I have lots of bits and just got on with this.

Its a very "pixie" pointy hood and tucks inside the polo neck very well.

I am going to enjoy this one though. I have had to wait nearly a week to get photos which has meant I did not wear it just in case I ruin it somehow. Now I can start to enjoy this properly.

By the way the green faux leather leggings were made here

https://brackencrafts.blogspot.com/2017/05/elvish-green.html

Take care

Bracken