One of my first goals after learning to knit was to knit a sweater. I knit a few conventional sweater patterns, but it was hard for me to find patterns that came in my size. So, naturally I jumped head first into adapting the pattern all on my own. Let's just say, that little adventure may or may not have ended with me flinging notebooks around the room. Luckily, that’s when I discovered The Handy Book of Sweaters by Ann Budd.
The Handy Book of Sweater Patterns includes instructions for six different sweater constructions (Drop shoulder, Modified drop shoulder, Set-in sleeve, saddle shoulder, Raglan, and Seamless yoke). Each sweater construction is broken into two sections; kids sizes (26 in chest to 34 chest), and adult sizes (36 in chest to 54 in chest). Each size section is then broken down into five gauges. All you have to do is swatch your yarn, pick the size you want to knit and you have a basic sweater pattern that you can customize as you see fit. With this ginormous range of sizes, it’s been perfect for when I’m trying to resize certain patterns.
It by no means is a fully comprehensive design book, you will still need to know basics about what roles certain yarns and stitch patterns play in your finished sweater. But there are piles upon piles of books out there with that type of information. As well as some great online resources.
I will say, that while I think it’s great for beginner sweater knitters, I suggest you try out a conventional sweater pattern first, especially one geared towards first time sweater knitters. Or at the very least watch a few video tutorials to fully understand sweater construction. There are a few things that I can see becoming confusing for someone who hasn’t knit a sweater before. Here's a Ravelry bundle I'm working on filled with good beginner sweater patterns.
My absolute favorite thing about the book is the wide variety of pattern options. You could literally knit something for the entire family from this book. The sizes may not go down to infant sizes, but with the measurements of your desired finished object, your gauge and a little bit of math, you could easily use the numbers for a different gauge and size and make it work for your baby.
The one thing I really don’t care for is that there’s no bottom up instructions for raglan sleeves. In the book it gives instructions for top down raglan sweaters. I know it’s more common to knit a raglan sweater top down, but I’ve come to realize I don’t really care for the line of increases down the sleeve and I would have really like to have bottom up instructions. It’s especially frustrating since there was eventually an entire book dedicated to top down sweater construction.
I really love the flexibility of this book and I would really recommend this book to any knitter who likes to knit sweaters and wants to bring their sweaters to the next level. It's especially handy for folks who knit several different sweater sizes. Or those of you who are like me, and need a little help modifying an existing pattern to work for you.
Have you used this book in the past? I'd love to hear your experiences in the comment section.
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