BT Men Spotlight: Chesterfield

Julie's seamless Chesterfield pullover strikes that great balance between being easy to knit and fashionable to wear. The body and sleeves are worked circularly from the hem/cuff to the underarm. At that point, all pieces are joined together and worked circularly to shape the raglan yoke (also worked circularly, with no seams). The squishable ribbed turtleneck is worked last – and for those guys who feel a little stifled with all that wool up around their necks, substituting a simple stockinette rolled edge, or a shallow 1x1 ribbed neckband is a snap. If you look closely at the fabric, you'll notice that the colors have a marled appearance – this is achieved by working with two different colors of Loft (our fingering weight wool yarn) held together and treated as a single strand. The resulting fabric is the same as a worsted weight yarn, but with a beautiful, mottled look. Between the combination of the colorblocking at the base of the garment and the marled yarn, five separate colors are used in total to create the look shown above. Again, if the colorblocking isn't your (or your guy's) cup of tea, the entire garment can easily be knit in a single color for a more traditional look. The basic shape and construction of this garment allows for all kinds of individual modifications to suit your own tastes – I love seeing how knitters experiment and modify our designs. Isn't that one of the best reasons for making your own clothes, after all? As an added bonus, Julie included a "girlfriend" version of the sweater that incorporates waist shaping to decrease bulk in the body, while maintaining an overall cozy, oversized feel. See photos of the modeled girlfriend version on Chesterfield's pattern page.