Knitting

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You (Probably) Already Know All You Need to Knit a Sweater

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Yes you can knit a sweater now!Welcome back to Sweater Month! I wanted to get started with a little pep talk and a reminder that you probably already know everything you need to know in order to successfully knit a sweater.

Yes, an adult-sized sweater is a big project, and it can, indeed, be quite complex. But if you’re looking at a stockinette sweater with minimal shaping, you’ve probably got all the skills you need to get it done right.

Don’t believe me? Let’s look at the skills you are likely to need to knit a basic, pieced sweater.

  • Casting on
  • Knitting
  • Purling
  • Basic increasing or decreasing, depending on the direction of the sweater
  • The ability to measure a piece of knitting
  • Binding off
  • Making pieces the same length (front and back and sleeves)
  • Seaming

Nothing too difficult there. The one I have the most trouble with is making pieces that are supposed to be the same length actually the same length (and that’s not a problem so long as you can count rows).

I know seaming can be scary, but again, if you’re just working with stockinette, mattress stitch is actually really easy to learn.

Check out my article from About on How to Knit a Sweater to get another look at the skills needed for sweater knitting, as well as links to some easy patterns you might want to try.

Comments

  1. I so far behind with the knit along scarf it may be ready for winter 2016!!! But I do so want to knit a sweater. One day…

Have you read?

Beyond Basic Pumpkin Knitting Patterns

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork. 

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn. 

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look. 

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me. 

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. 

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.