Wednesday, September 19, 2012

My First Adult Sweater!


I've been knitting for 16 years but until now, I haven't ever knit a piece of clothing larger than a baby sweater.  I was afraid to invest a lot of time, effort, and yarn into something that may, or may not, end up fitting and I may, or may not, end up liking.  I finally got over my inhibitions and knit an adult sweater and guess what? I like!  The $5 in Paris pattern by Anna Peck Maliszewski has been one of my favorites since I first saw it on Ravelry.  And bonus: it's free!

Here are the notes I took while knitting it:
-Cast on for large, but used size 5 needles to get a smaller neck.
-Knitted a row of cc with size 9 needles before starting increases.
-Moved stitch markers over one stitch to make jogless stripes easier.
-11 repeats of arm increases
. If I were to knit it again, I would probably only do 10.
-Moved side shaping markers to to be centered under sleeves.
-Shaping: Decreased 3 times, knit 10 regular rows, increased 5 times.
-Knit 1 round of MC before ribbing.
-Had to decrease 2 sts, in first row of ribbing.
-4 inches of ribbing on bottom.
-Used Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-off for bottom ribbing.
-Planned on slightly longer sleeves, but thought that two more stripes would make them an awkward length.
-Used size 7 needle for arm ribbing.
-2.5 inches of arm ribbing.
-Used regular cast-off for arms.
-If I make again, I would consider making the stripes a row or two wider to get more length before starting the ribbing.
-Used 1.5-ish skeins (137 g) aqua and just over 2 skeins (215 g) of gray.
-I was really nervous to wash and dry it, because I’ve used a superwash yarn that grew/sagged like crazy after getting wet. But the Plymouth Merino Superwash did great. The fabric is a little bit drapier, but it didn’t loose it’s shape. It’s even softer after washing.



1 comment:

  1. Good job on that sweater! Am going to look at the baby blanket on Rav. now.

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