Finished: A Victory Jumper to Cure Homesickness

I am going to bore you guys today with a project you have seen a million times already. On Ravelry alone I am literally the 100th person to add this jumper to their project list! Of course it is non other than the famous Victory Jumper.
On the 5th of May we celebrate “Bevrijdingsdag” (Liberation day) in The Netherlands. After Kingsday (formerly Queensday) it is pretty much our biggest national holiday. There are free music festivals in almost every city to 'celebrate freedom' and military (veteran) parades in some of the important war-related places. I really miss this holiday now that I live abroad. Since our national flag is also red, white and blue I have been planning since last year to knit the Victory Jumper so I can kind of celebrate in spirit.



The pattern is written for a 33-34" bust and at first I decided to knit it as is for a slightly looser fit. However, when I finished the armhole shaping, the cross chest/cross back measurement was way too big. So I ripped out quite a bit and only increased 12 sts at the side seams in stead of the original 28. 

I didn't like the original tight fitting sleeves, so I changed them a bit by working an increase row after the ribbing, rather than working the increases every few rows along the sides. Then I also made the sleeve heads slightly bigger than they originally where and 'eased' them into the armholes by skipping stitches during sewing. This creates a slightly looser fitting sleeve with very subtle volume at the top, which I prefer from the original. I had actually hoped they would have been even puffier so in retrospect I should have increased even more stitches.



The yarn I used is, again, Stylecraft Life 4 ply in Navy, Cream and Cardinal. I got really excited about this yarn after knitting the Elinor Jumper and then again for the Jan Sweater. This yarn is 25% wool, 75% acrylic and definitely a more budget-end yarn, which I was forced to with my pre-job low budget. However, since I liked this yarn so much and this jumper was more of a fun knit, I figured this yarn would do perfectly. Unfortunately it seems that the quality of the yarn is not at all consistent within its own range. The Ice Blue I used for the lace sweater and the Butterscotch I used for the Jan sweater are both delightfully soft and don't feel like your typical acrylic. But unfortunately the Cream and Navy ones have a very different texture. They are rougher, very acrylic-y and also a tad thicker than the other colors. Luckily it does turn softer after pressing with steam, but still, I was quite disappointed.

All together I am happy with another successful knit to add to my wardrobe. I don't expect to wear this one a lot - it's a bit.. 'louder' than what I usually wear - but it was a fun and reasonably quick knit and I look forward to actually celebrating may 5th again in the future with my Victory Jumper :)