Stumpejakke tease

Swatch and new-to-me book.

A quieter than normal Saturday morning at the shop let me look through several books that I had seen come in, but hadn't actually flipped through.  Lots of lovely books - some of which are now on my wishlist for Christmas (because Alice Starmore can never be denied).  But a simple sweater caught my eye, and I was determined to swatch for it - substituting yarn, of course. The pattern is by Marianne Isager, a favorite of mine although I haven't yet knit one of her designs.  It can be found in Tutto a Mano put out by the Isager Company.  I was initially enthusiastic about the book because it has a few patterns by Grace Anna Farrow and I always love her aesthetic. But lately my queue on Ravelry has been stacking up patterns by Ms. Isager, and the pattern labeled 'Short Jacket' also joined the list. 

On Ravelry you can find the Short Jacket under the name Stumpejakke from its previous release in Danish when it was in Strik a la Carte I.  As you can see, the pattern looks really very easy.  I believe there is only a minimum amount of shaping, and I love the play of what appears to be simple ribbing contrasted by the simple garter stitch of the shawl-ish collar and sleeves.  When I checked the gauge though, I found this: 

Gauge

Average of 20 sts and 44 rows = 4" x 4" on US 4 in combination of brioche st and garter st.

Intriguing, I thought. Brioche, and an unusual swatch!  Earlier this summer I saw my boss working on a Marianne Isager pattern from the Classic Knits collection (and I promptly queued a t-shirt from there as well, because you know.... C H E V R O N S) and her gauge swatch was the weirdest thing I had seen because it was actually shaped.  Not a 4 x 4 inch (or larger) square, but a funny pointy thing that actually resembled the pattern.  And sure enough, the Stumpejakke has actual directions for how to make a gauge swatch for this project.

I picked up the little remnant ball of Mountain Meadows Cody I had leftover from my Rustic Oak Grove Mitts and cast on.  Later that evening I was done.  Half the swatch was in garter, half the swatch was in brioche, and wouldn't you know, I got gauge on US 4s. The results can be seen above.   There was one problem, however.

Since starting my yarn diet at the beginning of November, I can honestly say the only regret I have faced so far is that I don't have a sweater's worth of Mountain Meadows Cody in my stash.

Damn.