A Sweater that Fits

The photographs are not much to show, but I have finally managed to knit a sweater that fits me. Sigh of relief and happiness. I owe credit to Ann Budd's The Handy Book of Sweater Patterns. And to my knitting teacher, who suggested the book.

Perhaps for most knitters, but especially for me, who knit very loosely, struggle to get gauge without going down to the tiniest of needles, and wear a smaller size, this book was a savior. I could start with wherever my gauge was - and then figure out from there details such as the length of the sweater, how long to make the sleeves, and what kind of neckline or button band I wanted. My goal was for this sweater to be a tutorial: a chance to see how the basic pattern worked up, whether it fit or not, and from that information, be better able to make the adjustments needed to get to from the sweater in my imagination to the finished object.

I worked from the master pattern for the Set-in Sleeve Cardigan. I tried to stick with the program, but did end up using a few details from the Cropped Cardigan, such as a longer ribbed border, bracelet-length sleeves, and a black edging against the heathered brown yarn of the main parts of the sweater. The buttons are black, also, to pick up the edging detail.

It's warm, comfortable, and best of all, I'll be able to wear it (in fact, I have it on as I write this). Next up, I'm thinking of trying a V-neck with lace edging on a bell sleeve or perhaps a colorwork effect of doing the sleeves in orange and the body in pink. Here are the details on this sweater:

Pattern: Set-in Sleeve Cardigan

Yarn: Cascade 220 Heather, 5 skeins of heather brown; 1 skein of black (of which I only needed about 25% of the skein)

Needles: size 4 and size 5 Addi Natura

Notions: 6 buttons

Size: 36 (allows some ease, for a comfortable but not oversized fit)

The only other thing to mention is that this is a full sleeve, especially at the cap. If you like a slimmer look, you may want to figure out how to leave out a few increases and still have the sleeve fit the armhole. (I'm not there, yet.)