It's true that I am now making only one sweater each year. This one spans the calendar so much that it may count for two years. I began this sweater in late September 2024. Initially, I was attracted to several design features--boho, loose fitting, a combination of crochet and knitting--those points were in its favor. Again, initally, I was put off by the name. It only reminded me of the character in the Beverly Hillbillies. Once I read the designer's description and watched her videos, I realized how wrong I was and how right this name was. Jethro Tull was and still is one of my touchstones. I have the original vinyl record and often play it, as long as I play Aqualung among the other songs. I renamed this sweater "Aqualung Blues" and made it mine.
I already had the perfect yarn, a cotton blend from Noro. The cotton is blended with rayon and silk to give it more drape and with nylon to make it softer. I bought a group of blues and gray colorways in 2021 to make the Oma Goodness top. Those colors got re-routed to Jethro, but there's probably enough of them left to do the top. The granny squares don't use a lot of any one color.
There's about 40 granny squares crocheted together, with only the sleeves, hem and buttonbands knitted. I like it, even though it's not one of my usual hand knitted projects. The pattern, Jethro by Tanis Lavalee (available on her website) is clear and simple enough. My only complaint is the drop shoulders--although it's not a design feature I favor, it is one that works well with granny squares.
The squares crocheted up quickly. I finished them by the end of October. Joining them all together only took a couple of weeks (keeping in mind that I only work on this project about an hour a day). Then I tried to make it just a bit larger. You see, this was sport weight yarn and the gauge was a bit smaller. I thought it could use a little more ease and wanted it to match the specifications of the size 3 Jethro. I also wanted to change the shoulders a bit. I got an idea to alleviate the drop shouldered, wider in back, narrow in front effect by adding squares below the armholes with small triangles above them for shaping. I reasoned that change would improve the fit and provide a little more fullness in the front.
It made a more traditional armhole, one that resembled something that would fit a shaped sleeve cap.
While the additional squares under the arms made the sweater meet the size schematic dimensions, they did not change the shape of the sweater. It is obvious that a sweater made of granny squares is mostly square--or rectangular.
Since the rounded armhole is shaped like one that fits a sleeve with a cap, I added a sleeve cap. Failure. All the cap did was add extra fabric that made the shoulders stick out. I ripped back and tried adding a gusset at the bottom of the armhole. The first gusset had the usual decreases on every other row. That wasn't enough, so I replaced it with paired decreases on every row.
After the gusset, I decreased the sleeve circumference further with decreases on either side of the end of round marker. The drop shouldered boxy look needs narrow sleeves to offset the oversize style.
The gussets under the arms allow for the narrow sleeves that offset the wide body, as well as providing room for a sleeved top under the sweater.
Once the sleeves were complete, I finished the simpler knitting--the hem and button bands-- quickly. The end result is quite satisfactory.
