F.O.: Cassavetes

I don't know if you have seen the movie There Will Be Blood, but it is one of my husband's favorite movies. In the last scene of the movie, also known as "the milkshake scene", Daniel Day-Lewis is sporting a charcoal gray shawl collar cardigan - the classic grandpa sweater - and my husband quickly put in his order for me to knit one for him. I finally found a pattern for the perfect sweater for him.

Pattern: Cassavetes by Veronik Avery from the St-Denis Magazine Spring/Summer 2010
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Fez in Charcoal Gray
Needles: Size US 7

I really liked this pattern. It was amazingly detailed and professional from the dropped shoulder seams to the hemmed edges. There was a lot of finishing on this sweater but the end product is well worth it. I must admit that I cursed every buttonhole that I had to graft together (I hate grafting!!!!) but they do look very polished.


The yarn is gorgeous! I really loved knitting with Fez. It is very soft and very warm. I think my only complaint about it would be that it got a slight halo after I blocked it and it doesn't show off the stitches as well as before it was blocked - and I am hoping that it doesn't fuzz up anymore than it already has. I originally ordered the St-Denis Boreale, which is the yarn called for in the pattern, but the color was completely off so I needed to go in search for an alternative.

This was the first man-sweater that I knit and it actually didn't take me as long as I feared that it would. I was aiming to have this done for my husband's birthday in mid-October and I was done with the knitting by then but it was all the finishing that took me a bit longer to complete it. The only mod I made was that I added 4 inches to the length - yes, my husband is tall! I am really happy with the way this turned out and my husband really likes it.