So, I did wind up ordering the "Country Weekend Knits" book.

And now I'm glad I did. They use the funny sizing method that some "older" books use: they say "To fit chest size" and then give the finished size. And in a lot of cases, the finished size is 6 or 8 or even 10 inches greater than the chest size it is alleged to fit. Meaning something designed for a 38" (or in one case, 36") chest will fit me fine. Either the patterns count on far more positive ease than what most knitters use now, or British sizing is different.

So it's like "bra band size" sizing. Where the actual number is smaller than the greatest diameter.

Most American patterns, they give the "finished size."

A few things may be a bit small for me as written, but happily the Polperro pattern jacket, the Tree-of-Life Aran jacket, and most of the ganseys - my favorite things in the book - will be the right size.

I really like the Polperro pattern jacket. Pity I haven't any yarn on-hand in sufficient amounts for it. (It's knit of "aran weight" - which is close enough to worsted - held double, but it takes a LOT of yarn to make it)

I also find myself seized with the desire to knit an 'authentic' Guernsey sweater - that is, with the actual "five ply" yarn in that blue color, and in yarn from Britain. But I have to work down the stash a bit first before I think of that.

(Edited to add: Schoolhouse Press in Wisconsin has the "authentic" Guernsey wool in what I think of as the "authentic" marine blue color. Hm. I may have an item to put on the "Christmas wish list" my parents ask me for every year.)