Over the past two years I have knitted for myself three sweaters. First time in years that I have knit for myself. Kind of fun. These were test knitting projects. Since we are in the South now I thought cotton would be a good idea for yarn. The first sweater in 100% cottone came out pretty but was too big. The second sweater I got a different yarn--a cotton blend. It also came out more like a sweatshirt than a sweater. Too big. Six months ago I bought into another test knit for a designer and podcaster than I enjoy. This time I used fine wool yarn...in this case Knit Picks Palette yarn with two strands held together. The pattern was well-written and I was able to suggest some edits that would make the pattern itself more easily followed. And this sweater ALSO turned out too large.
Don't get me wrong: I like loose clothing. I am claustrophobic and that includes tight clothing. Plus I am not in love with the sausage casing look that so many women buy into today. I sometimes think people who are a size 20 want to be a size 14 and buy clothes they can get into but which do not actually fit. At least not the way I want my clothes to fit.
Anyway, part of the problem with the final sweater is that I did not read the pattern all the way to the final page where there was a schematic. If I had looked at the schematic and then measured myself I would have made a different size. Since then I have seen knitting videos that made me believe I had chosen the wrong size. Well, duh! Of course I chose the wrong size. I just did not know it for those three sweaters.
Three wrong sweaters in a row was so disappointing. As I was watching a designer/podcaster early last fall she spoke of a Sweater Fitting Course that she was going to teach starting in January. I immediately signed up for the waiting list! NO MORE SLOPPY SWEATERS WANTED.
During the fall I spent a lot of time looking for sweaters on Ravelry that were the required top-down raglan or top-down yoke sweater. I want a cardigan and searched and searched. So many beautiful sweaters out there but I am sort of lazy I suppose. I did not want a complicated sweater to figure out fit on for the first time...just a stockinette stitch sweater.
Finally I found a sweater that was a crew neck top-down raglan sweater which had a steek so it could become a cardigan. Just what I wanted. I have done steeks before and actually thought of turning the Knit Picks Palette sweater into a cardigan with an after-the-fact steek but have not done it yet. I am wearing that sweater as I type. We are having an unseasonably cold spell here so I feel good in this nice wool sweater!
The Victory Cardigan was designed by Corinne Tomlinson of The Woolly Thistle in West Lebanon, NH. If we still lived in Vermont I would be spending all my spare cash on their yarn if I had not already spent it at The Junction Fiber Mill in White River Junction! Love the JFM yarn and have spent a good deal of money there over the last year. Probably it is a good thing we moved to a yarn desert and that I am at least slightly cognizant of the cost of things. Part of the reason I have bought that yarn is that some of the sheep whose fleece was used for the yarn live across the road from some very deara friends. Connections!
To make a long story shorter, it was good news to get into the sweater fitting class. I have now swatched both in the round and flat. I believe the yarn will work on the needle size. One evening soon will be the first class meeting via Zoom. I can hardly wait.
In the meantime I have been knitting the Sweet Baby Raglan Sweater pattern given to us by the course instructor as a quickly knitted sample of what we would be knitting in class. The pattern calls for sport weight yarn. I did not have any to hand so I used the same sized needles on Hobby Lobby Sugarwheel yarn which is a worsted weight. I had to do some math to make this sweater proportional. I had arrived at the divide for body and sleeves when I remembered I still had some Patons Kroy Sock yarn which is close to sport weight and which I had planned to use in another project. So--I started another Sweet Baby Raglan Sweater in the correct size yarn. I had recently purchased a set of six or eight different sizes of 10" double pointed needles and used them to cast on this sweater...dpns being what the designer called for. That did NOT work at all for the worsted weight yarn, as you can imagine.
Well, today, while waiting in the doctor's office, I had PLENTY of time to knit so I have nearly finished the length of the purple sweater. For sure the body should be done before bedtime and the sleeves should be done in the morning. I will then pick up the worsted weight sample and try to get that done before the first class meeting, though it will be tight! I do not foresee doing any house work tomorrow....just knit knit knit. Despite having said this was the year I hope to get the house in order, get my health in order, and use up all the yarn collection. It is possible that I can manage one or two of those, but all three? Debatable. Pray for me...
This is the Patons Kroy Sock yarn sweater. It is supposed to end up 18" circumference. I need to knit fast if I am going to give it to a new baby.
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