Okay, so how long does it take a knit a sweater? That depends on how much time I have to spend on it, the difficulty of the pattern, how much I love/hate the yarn or pattern. How rapid my ADD decides to be, in other words how badly I'm affected by the dreaded startitis.
When knitting a sweater I'm a firm believer in having smaller projects to work on. Like hats, mittens - have I told you that I love, love, love to knit mittens? I do!
Here's a cap that I cast on. It's to be a Christmas gift. Haven't decided yet who for, but I also plan a pair of matching mitts.
I'm using Cascade 220 Superwash in a lovely burnt orange color.
I've also cast on for another cardigan. This one is sample for a class at The Knitting Boutique. It's called Spring Showers. I'm using Malabrigo Arroyo in the color Glitter. LOVELY!! I'll be casting on another Amiga after Spring Showers, and for that one I'll be using Juniper Moons Herriot. Haven't decided on a color as yet. I have 10 colors to decide from! And it's 100% alpaca! So while the yarn choice is easy, the color choice not so.
Hayden would like a new sweater, he wants to go to the yarn store to pick his own yarn. I love this little man soooooo much!
Happy Sunday to you all! It's beautiful here, where I'll be Clickin' on the Severn!
The most common question I think I'm asked when people see me knitting is "how long does it take you to knit a sweater?" Easy enough question, however there's no simple answer. Not because a sweater is difficult to knit, but there are a lot of underlying factors to knitting a sweater. With this blog, I'm hoping to enlighten anyone brave enough to venture in here.
I've recently cast on (for you novices that's starting) a sweater for my daughter. I'm going to give you all the information that I use when knitting a sweater, from yarn, to kneedles (yes, I know that's misspelled. I just happen to like it.), the pattern used, and what changes/adjustments I've made to the pattern.
Yep, I'll even add pictures.
So here goes.....
The pattern: Jess' Birthday Sweater
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash, color is called Shire. I have 6 balls. This should be plenty, with leftover to knit a hat.
Needles: US 6, and US 8. I'm using circulars, the US 6 is 32 inches long and I've using it Magic Loop style. The US 8 is 24 inches. I will probably have to go to dpns for the sleeves or buy a longer circular. Hmmm, that's a thought!
Cast On date: Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012.
Changes to the pattern:
Instead of regular ribbing of (k2, p2), I've done twisted the knit stitches in the ribbing only. Also because my daughter is rather petite, I shortened the ribbing from 4" to 3". For the st st sides, I've added cables, in doing this I won't have to decrease stitches for shaping, and it will allow room for her wear this sweater with layers. I've also added two stitches to the pattern, these are faux seam stitches on each side of the sweater. They will continue on the sleeves. In my eye, this makes a cleaner edge on the sweater especially since it's knit in the round.
Here's what my chart looks like, you can this is where I make most of my notes. Notes go on here, because this is what I look at most.
This is how far I've gotten on the sweater thus far (that is Friday 10/19/12)
