Greta Sweater at "Murder on the Orient Express"

Flashback Summer: 1930s knitted Greta Sweater - Murder on the Orient Express

Today my family and I went for an impromptu matinee of "Murder on the Orient Express," and obviously I had to dress to match the movie!  This movie, set in the 1930s, is a murder mystery classic by Agatha Christie starring sleuth extraordinaire Poirot.

While I actually enjoyed the movie, the costumes were a bit blah, barring a couple stand-out pieces like this reddish dress and a ski ensemble worn by Caroline Hubbard (that I can't find proper screen shots of, so bear with me):


Flashback Summer: 1930s knitted Greta Sweater - Murder on the Orient Express
photo source

Besides that, there really wasn't much in the movie that really wowed me.  I did, however, long for breakfast in bed while on a luxurious train through the Orient.  That part did speak to me!


Flashback Summer: 1930s knitted Greta Sweater - Murder on the Orient Express

For the matinee, I went with the "Greta Cowl Neck Sweater" I finished recently that comes from a 1930s Corticelli pattern book.  (I've also made this sweater from this pattern book.)  It has been steadily drizzling and dropping in temperature today, so I grabbed some quick outfit pictures while standing under an overhang outside the theatre.  I hadn't worn this sweater yet because it was very much a love-hate project and an illustration of how not to knit a sweater.  Let me begin by giving you my tips on what not to do:

- Do not use variegated, pre-striped yarn on a sweater, particularly one knit in the round.  If you do not realize, like I did, that the thickness of the stripes will change as the rows increase and decrease on different sections of the sweater... you will have to cut and piece the yarn to make it look even, and you will want to impale yourself upon your knitting needles.


Flashback Summer: 1930s knitted Greta Sweater - Murder on the Orient Express

- Do not use itchy wool yarn, even if the tension works and it's available in your local store.  Not surprisingly, feet don't seem to mind itchy acrylic-alpaca as much as my arms and neck do.  If it's scratchy in the store... it will be scratchy when you wear it.  Duh.

- Do not "wait and see" how much yarn you will need and decide to "buy more later" should you need it.  DYE LOTS MATTER.  If you ignore this, you will end up having to mix the yarn throughout to ensure no one spot sticks out color-wise.


Flashback Summer: 1930s knitted Greta Sweater - Murder on the Orient Express

- Do not ignore how drapey the design will need to be and buy a non-drapey yarn.  Sock wool does not drape much, and it didn't work as well on this cowl-neck style as, say, a merino or angora would.


Flashback Summer: 1930s knitted Greta Sweater - Murder on the Orient Express

So those are my wise knitting lessons for you all.  Don't be dumb like me; spend hours on sweaters that will work out well, haha!  I did, however, push through all the obstacles to make a wearable sweater.  I also ended up re-doing the sleeves and changing them to be a bit puffier.  The originals called for in the pattern ended up being quite high on the outside of my arm and sloping down and bunching oddly at the underarms.  I have narrow shoulders, so I'm not sure what happened.  I changed them to what you see here, puffed with a sharp decrease into a rib at the end.


Flashback Summer: 1930s knitted Greta Sweater - Murder on the Orient Express

I do look forward to trying this sweater again in the future with proper yarn and more knitting knowledge.  In case you should all think I'm a knitting expert that gets these things right the first time... Do think again.  It's absolutely not true and I still struggle with many aspects of knitting, particularly the yarn-choosing part.  But pushing through and making do at times will help you learn and is all part of the skill-building process!

TLDR Knitting details
Yarn: Yarn Bee Fair Isle, Red/Blue Multi
Needles: 2.75 mm DPNs and 2.5 mm DPNs for ribbing
Pattern: "Corticelli Sweaters for Spring," Greta Cowl-Neck Sweater (32-34" bust)
Year: 1930s
Notions: none
How historically accurate is it?  Eh, pretty accurate in the sense of an appropriate fiber and pattern.  Not so accurate with the pre-striped yarn.
Any tricky parts to the pattern?  There really wasn't anything tricky; just choosing the right yarn that will drape properly (more so than mine) is important.
Did you change anything?  I knitted the sleeves in the way the pattern instructed, and they ended up sloping sharply from the outside of my arm down to the inside of my arm and bunching oddly, so I changed it to more of a puff sleeve style.  I'm not sure why it did this.
Time to complete: I didn't count, but this one took a long time, largely due to my poor choice of pre-striped yarn and cutting it to look even throughout the sweater.
First worn: November 18, 2017
Total cost: pattern from stash, and I think the yarn was about $45 (I made this a while ago!)
Notes: This is a great 1930s pattern, and I'd love to re-knit this in a drapier, softer yarn in every color!  It would be fantastic for mixing and matching with other separates and super comfortable.

What's your biggest knitting/crochet snafu or mistake to date?  What did you learn from it?

9 comments

  1. Argh! Sorry you had so many problems with this one but it does look great.

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    1. Ha, thank you! I’m glad it looks good. Almost makes the anguish worth it. 😂

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  2. It looks great to me, a non-knitter. Thanks also for you honest opinion of the movie - I'm planning on seeing it Thanksgiving weekend.

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    1. Haha, well thank you! Sometimes I get too close to a project to see if it's really turned out or not, so that's affirming!

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  3. Wow, this sounds like a frustrating project! On the plus side, though, it looks fantastic on you, and you wouldn't know about any of the issues from the photos. Love the whole look - your accessories are on point.
    I sort of want to see the new Murder on the Orient Express, but David Suchet will always be my Poirot.

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    1. YES! That's so good to know. Phew. I'm glad it doesn't look hobbled-together on the outside, haha!
      And yes, I've heard that people who love the old Poirot haven't liked the new one as much. That being said, I'm not attached to him and I really liked the Poirot in the movie.

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  4. Emileigh, Great job plugging through this one. It looks amazing and Your can-do spirit and perseverance are impressive. All your knitting advice is spot on. As an avid knitter, I've experienced everything you talked about in your "what not to do". I think it's just part of the process. My most recent flop was having to re-do (3 times) the neck placket on a 1930's sweater. Must have read those instructions 20 times but just couldn't quite get it right for the longest time. Another mistake was watching Outlander while knitting said sweater and loosing track of the pattern, which was very complicated over an 8 row repeat. Kind of distracting.
    Like the other's commented, we would never know you had so much trouble. You do an amazing job with your styling and photography . Bravo!

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    1. Ha, well I'm glad I'm not the only person that still struggles with parts of knitting patterns! And I totally identify with losing track of the pattern! I have to pair my TV watching and knitting patterns appropriately for such reasons. :D

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  5. Really pretty sweater and definetly something to take on a winter journey! :) I enjoyed the MOTOE movie experience, but the costumes didn't really take the center stage... Coiffures and moustaches were cool though...

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