One for the boys (or not)

After a lot of interest in the Marilyn cardigan from the Santa Monica photo shoot by men and women, @butterflychildart, my partner in crime decided to work out the pattern for the famous cardigan worn by Paul Michael Glaser. He played Starsky in the 1970’s TV series Starsky and Hutch.

Doing a research we discovered that there were two versions of the cardigan that starsky wears. There is only a slight difference in the bottom panel of pattern around the body. More than one was probably used in filming so they didn’t wear out is quickly! In some photos you can see snagged yarn where it got must have got caught rolling over car bonnets or fighting bad guys.

This cardigan is another example of a Cowichan style knit, Marilyn Monroe’s. The colours are typical of the 70s as well as the Cowichan style, mainly cream and different shades of brown. Perfect in the 70’s worn with denim!

As with the search for a pattern for Marilyn cardigan we found there were similar patterns out there, but none really matched the photos of the original. We purchased a pattern that was very close and then we had a guide to work from. This makes it so much easier to then make alterations as the sizes are already worked out. For instance, pockets were added. Also, the original belt looked like a single thickness of garter stitch, but we opted for double-sided knitting to strengthen the belt. It’s also nice a stretchy.

Even when it’s knitted, we could see more alterations were needed, mainly in the sizing so we needed to change the number of stitches to compensate for using the honeycomb brioche stitch instead of plain knit stocking stitch.

I’d be interested to know if others looking at the photos of both Marilyn and Starsky in their cardigans, think the stitch looks chunkier and more textured than stocking stitch?

As with the Marilyn cardigan, please feel free to get in touch using the contact page if you’re interested in having your own version – this one or the other, and in stocking stitch or honeycomb brioche.

I’ll leave you with another famous face sporting a Mexican knitted cardigan. Another pattern to draw up, maybe?