How to Alter a Sweater Knitting Pattern to Make a Tunic

February 8, 2023 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

Like most years, this year I am trying to use more of my yarn stash, including odd balls and random bits left over from other projects. I also have a goal to knit or crochet at least one sweater every month to help with the goal.

My January sweater, I decided, was going to be a mix of blue and green yarns, in simple Stockinette stitch. I had tried to use some of these yarns together in a project a couple of years ago and I didn’t like how it turned out, so I had a bunch of yarn collected already to use.

Before the initial attempt at the blue and green sweater I had made a top-down raglan using red, orange and yellow yarn, so I thought I would try to replicate something like that. But I also didn’t really want to “design” a sweater for this purpose, so I started thinking about simple Stockinette stitch patterns I could use.

I was reminded of the Nutmeg sweater by Jenifer Stark (which is a free pattern on Ravelry), which I had knit years ago as one of my first ever sweaters. It’s worked in bulky yarn, but I figured if I combined a worsted weight with something lighter I could get pretty close to gauge.

Because it’s a top-down pattern I just started knitting, assuming I could adjust my stitch count on the fly if I needed to if my gauge was off. For once it turned out to be spot on.

But as I kept knitting, realizing I had a lot more yarn than I would need for a single sweater, I decided I wanted to knit a tunic (or sweater dress, even) instead. So I started increasing somewhat arbitrarily (and trying it on frequently) to ensure it would fit over my hips.

It turned out great and I decided to write out how to do it in case you don’t want to randomly increase and hope for the best. You can read all about how to alter a sweater knitting pattern into a tunic over at Our Daily Craft.

Have you ever done this? I’d love to hear how it turned out!

Next Pattern:

Have you read?

Christmas Stocking Knitting Patterns for Your Pets

I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

Next Pattern:

Have you read?

Leave a Reply