How to Take Apart a Sweater

This starts as sort of a sad story about a sweater I wanted but didn’t end up knitting. Years ago I bought a figurative ton of bamboo yarn, and I thought it would be the perfect thing for a sort of boxy, oversized sweater I could wear on beach vacations.

I knit it in pieces, thinking the seams would add some stability the sweater would otherwise lack, bamboo being slippery and probably saggy under its own weight.

It was a cute sweater.

It didn’t fit like I imagined at all.

I think the problem was mostly that I made it too oversized, and the weight of the sweater combined with not fitting correctly through the shoulders caused it to sag and stretch and turn into a way off the shoulder sweater in no time.

Not exactly what I had in mind.

I wore it once or twice anyway, then it lived in the back of the closet for a few years.

I was cleaning out my sweater shelves the other day and found it again. I decided I still wanted to do something with that yarn that would be more wearable. It was time to rip that sweater apart.

Of course because I knit it and vaguely remembered how I knit it, that was a big help, but in any case the rules for taking apart a sweater are pretty much the same. It should be noted this is the strategy for handknit sweaters or tops; sometimes things are different when you’re working with a commercial sweater.

Just in case you might need to take a sweater apart one day, I collected my process in a post over at Our Daily Craft. It’s handy to have a reminder that if you don’t love something you made, you can always try again.

As for that yarn? I’m working on a crocheted tank top that I hope will have enough structure to do it justice.

Have you ever taken apart a sweater or other garment you knit? I’d love to hear your tips!

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use.

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make.

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!).

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn.

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart.

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern.

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.

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