Fresh Off The Needles: Keia's Sweater

I have to admit, this sweater had me 10 different kinds of nervous. Not because the sweater itself was hard. It’s just a plain stockinette sweater. No, this was my first time knitting a sweater for someone who isn’t me.

I offered to make my sister, Keia, a sweater sometime last summer. I was a little worried before I even started the sweater. I felt like there were a hundred things that could go wrong. My anxiety only intensified, when it looked like it was coming out way too big. But when I finally seamed the shoulders together, and Keia tried it on, it turned out it fit perfectly. That’s one downside to knitting a sweater bottom up, you can’t try it on as you knit.

The only thing I would change is I would knit the sleeves much smaller. They're not terrible, but they'd look and probably feel a lot better if they were a smaller.

Before I even cast on, I knew I might not have enough yarn. Initially, I wasn't aware of how big she wanted the sweater to be. When she told me she wanted it closer to a men’s small than a women’s small, I started to worry. Luckily, for me, I was able to just barely knit this entire sweater with the 10 skeins that I had ordered. I did have to sacrifice a round on the collar though.

The Pattern

My original plan was to find a pattern for a full cabled sweater. But in the end, I decided to to go super simple so I could get the general feel of what Keia wanted from a sweater before I dove right in with a complicated sweater. I used the Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns by Ann Budd. It’s well documented that I love this book. It’s perfect for when I’m knitting just a plain stockinette sweater and need a launching off point.

Since Keia didn’t want a super fitted sweater, I had a lot of leeway. She likes her cozy clothes to be a men’s size small, so that’s what I aimed for. Since she didn’t have anything that had the fit she was looking for. I used the yarn craft council to find the right measurements. It was and always will be an invaluable resource for sizing.

I knit the entire body in the round until the armholes then knit the fronts and back separately. The whole thing was a breeze really because I opted to do a drop shoulder instead of a set in sleeve. Sometimes I feel like going the dropped shoulder route is cheating, but then I realize, “who the hell said knitting was supposed to be hard?” I need to remember this every time I start making knitting more difficult than it has to be.

The Yarn

The yarn I used is Knit Picks Swish Worsted in the Jade colorway. This yarn has quite a bit of negative feedback on Ravelry. But I've used it a few times and can't complain too much. I'm not going to pretend like it wears super well because it doesn’t. It gets pretty fuzzy pretty quickly. But I like the look of fuzzy sweaters, and the fuzz doesn't shed, so it doesn't bother me too much.

Even though I’m super happy and proud that I’m at this point where I can pretty much make up my own simple sweater patterns, I’m 100% ready to just sit back and let someone else worry about all the nitty gritty math details. I swear that the next sweater you see me knit is going to be someone else’s design.

To see what other sweaters I have planned for the year, follow me on Instagram.

Fresh off the needles: The Pickle Hat

After one last heat wave a week ago, I think it’s safe to say we’re in the full swing of fall. It’s finally time we get to pull out our hand knits. I knit this hat that I’ve dubbed the Pickle hat approximately two heat waves ago and I’m so happy I finally get to share it.

The Pattern

This is the second time I’ve knit Seaforth by Karie Westermann. For whatever reason, when I knit it the first time, I decided to make the larger size, which I never do. The thing turned out too big and now I hardly ever wear it. It was so fun to knit, though, I knew I had to make another one.

The pattern is clear and concise, it even gives you some great tips so you can modify it if need be. I’m not all that great with lace patterns. I’m so not great at them that I’ve given up ever trying to knit shawls with lace. But this pattern is only four rounds and incredibly well written which makes it easy enough even I find it extremely simple.

The Cast -On

This is in no way anything revolutionary, but my new favorite cast on for hats is the German Twisted cast on, which is the cast on I did for this hat. It’s super stretchy and is incredibly comfortable to wear. I especially like it for baby hats. A lot of times, when I use a regular long tail cast on, my niece will grow out of the brim of a hat even though there’s a ton of room left in the actual body of the hat.

The Yarn

In January, I made it a goal that I would support indie dyers. My first purchase was this wonderful worsted weight yarn by Dyeabolical Yarns in the Okie Dokie Atrichokey colorway. I love this yarn so much. The color is perfect. But since I’m not too familiar with what an artichoke looks like, I was always thinking of pickles whenever I was knitting it. Hence the name Pickle Hat.

My favorite thing about this yarn? This was my first time using indie dyed yarn, so I wanted my pattern choice to be perfect. I think I cast on at least half a dozen different hats. This yarn held up through all of them. I love a yarn that can handle my severe indecisiveness. It also leads me to believe that it’ll wear well over time.

One of the main reasons I haven’t been buying more indie dyed yarn is because a lot of yarn dyers have shop updates, where they dye up batches of yarn and then put it all in their shop and when it’s gone, it’s gone. Without fail, I always miss them. Either, I find out about the update too late, or when there is an update, I don’t have the money in my budget to order. What I loved about ordering from Dyeabolical Yarns, is that she dyes to order. Which means, I was able to order when I had the money in my budget to do so and I don’t have to worry about it.

I couldn’t be more happy that this is the pattern I settled on for this yarn. They work so well together and it’s already becoming one of my favorite hats.

Wanna see more of my indie purchases? Follow me on Tumblr, and Instagram for constant updates.