More Sweater Details
A few folks have asked for more information about the sweater I posted last week, so I’m going to take a moment to give you a few details.
Yarn/Gauge/Needles: The yarn is my FF Classic Merino Heavy Worsted Weight in the Majestic colorway. I used size US #9 needles, which in this stitch pattern yielded a gauge of about 18 stitches to 4 inches.
Stitches: The mock turtleneck is a K3, P1 rib. I used this rib so that it would be tighter and have more stretch than the body and so that the stitch count in the rib would flow nicely into the main body stitch. The main body is a seeded rib, sometimes called a “mistake” rib. It’s very simple to do. In the round, it’s basically just this:
Row 1: *K3, P1* across
Row 2: *P1, K1, P2* across
This stitch pattern creates a nice texture with a bit of stretch, but not too much. Incorporating the increases into the pattern stitch was very easy. If you knit this stitch, you can see a “bead” of stockinet that occurs. Basically, if you look at the simple stitch pattern above you will see that the second stitch in the repeat for both rows is a knit stitch. This creates a bead of stockinet and it’s quite visible when you knit. That means that as you incorporate additional stitches, there’s no fumbling around with notes or trying to figure out where the latest increase has left you in your stitch pattern. You can just glance at the work and see where the next stitch is that lines up with the bead of stockinet and you know immediately that that is the second stitch in the simple repeat.
Construction: I didn’t use a pattern, but used simple top down construction. Nothing fancy. I used DPNs for the turtleneck to keep the rib nice and tight (I thought a 16” circular would stretch it out way too much since I have a pretty thin neck). The sleeves are raglan and I used a fairly standard rate of increasing one stitch every other row at each side of each seam. I used just one stitch as the “seam” stitch, with that stitch in stockinet.
I took the piece off the needles quite a few times as I went to try to it on and just made my decisions on the next step from there. At the underarms, where I was splitting off to work sleeves and body separately, I added around six stitches to the body at each side. A few inches below the underarm toward the narrower part of the body, I decreased a total of four stitches (one stitch pattern repeat) at each side over the course of 8 rows or so.
For the sleeves, I picked up several extra stitches from the body area (where I had cast on the extra six or so stitches previously for the body) to complete the sleeve. I calculated out my decreases for the sleeves and proceeded from there. I can’t recall exactly the format, but I think I did my decreases two stitches every fourth row twice and then every six rows once. Something along those lines.
My apologies for not having a full pattern to share. I thought about writing up the pattern, but I have to admit that it’s a ton of work and time to do that , particularly to grade the pattern for different sizes and since it’s such an ordinary sweater I didn’t imagine that such a pattern would be in high demand.
I hope this helps answer some of your questions. Thank you all for your kind words about this simple little piece. I wore it last week for bowling and it was oh so comfy! It’s going to see a lot of wear this winter.
A few folks have asked for more information about the sweater I posted last week, so I’m going to take a moment to give you a few details.
Yarn/Gauge/Needles: The yarn is my FF Classic Merino Heavy Worsted Weight in the Majestic colorway. I used size US #9 needles, which in this stitch pattern yielded a gauge of about 18 stitches to 4 inches.
Stitches: The mock turtleneck is a K3, P1 rib. I used this rib so that it would be tighter and have more stretch than the body and so that the stitch count in the rib would flow nicely into the main body stitch. The main body is a seeded rib, sometimes called a “mistake” rib. It’s very simple to do. In the round, it’s basically just this:
Row 1: *K3, P1* across
Row 2: *P1, K1, P2* across
This stitch pattern creates a nice texture with a bit of stretch, but not too much. Incorporating the increases into the pattern stitch was very easy. If you knit this stitch, you can see a “bead” of stockinet that occurs. Basically, if you look at the simple stitch pattern above you will see that the second stitch in the repeat for both rows is a knit stitch. This creates a bead of stockinet and it’s quite visible when you knit. That means that as you incorporate additional stitches, there’s no fumbling around with notes or trying to figure out where the latest increase has left you in your stitch pattern. You can just glance at the work and see where the next stitch is that lines up with the bead of stockinet and you know immediately that that is the second stitch in the simple repeat.
Construction: I didn’t use a pattern, but used simple top down construction. Nothing fancy. I used DPNs for the turtleneck to keep the rib nice and tight (I thought a 16” circular would stretch it out way too much since I have a pretty thin neck). The sleeves are raglan and I used a fairly standard rate of increasing one stitch every other row at each side of each seam. I used just one stitch as the “seam” stitch, with that stitch in stockinet.
I took the piece off the needles quite a few times as I went to try to it on and just made my decisions on the next step from there. At the underarms, where I was splitting off to work sleeves and body separately, I added around six stitches to the body at each side. A few inches below the underarm toward the narrower part of the body, I decreased a total of four stitches (one stitch pattern repeat) at each side over the course of 8 rows or so.
For the sleeves, I picked up several extra stitches from the body area (where I had cast on the extra six or so stitches previously for the body) to complete the sleeve. I calculated out my decreases for the sleeves and proceeded from there. I can’t recall exactly the format, but I think I did my decreases two stitches every fourth row twice and then every six rows once. Something along those lines.
My apologies for not having a full pattern to share. I thought about writing up the pattern, but I have to admit that it’s a ton of work and time to do that , particularly to grade the pattern for different sizes and since it’s such an ordinary sweater I didn’t imagine that such a pattern would be in high demand.
I hope this helps answer some of your questions. Thank you all for your kind words about this simple little piece. I wore it last week for bowling and it was oh so comfy! It’s going to see a lot of wear this winter.
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1 comment:
It's so wonderful! How many skeins did you use, for what (approximate) size? It is really tempting me to purchase some of your thicker yarn and make one for myself - very cozy looking!
Thanks for sharing the details. :)
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