We hope you all enjoyed choosing your yarn and knitting your tension swatch. Now the real fun is about to begin, as we are finally ready to knit our sweaters! We thought that this day would never come! So without further ado, let’s dive in!
If you have chosen to knit stripes or a colour blocked version of the sweater, hopefully you have put some thought into how wide you want the stripes to be, or how you would like to place the colours.
If you are thinking that you would like to knit stripes, but are worried about sewing in all of the ends that one tends to think of when a striped sweater comes to mind, worry not! While there will certainly be more ends to sew in than if you were to knit your sweater in a solid colour, it is not as bad as one might think. There is a way around all of those ends!
And the way around them is simple- carry the yarn up the sides!
For our striped version, we knit 2 rows of dark pink, and 2 rows of light pink throughout the cuffs and yoke of the sweater. When working such narrow stripes, carrying the yarn up the side is not a difficult task. Simply knit back and forth in colour A, drop the yarn, and pick up colour B and knit two more rows. Be careful not to tug on colour B too hard as you begin your new row, as it may cause your work to pucker at the sides. Repeat your stripes in this manner until you have reached your desired length. There is no need to snip the ends with each colour change, as they will gently lay along the side of your work, and no one will be the wiser. Your ‘resting yarn float’ will be sewn right into the seam!
See how nice that looks? It is almost a shame that it will get lost in the seaming!
In the case of our sweater pictured above, once we were finished with our garter stitch hemline, we cut the pink yarn, and then joined the white and grey- we did not carry the pink yarns all the way up the side of the wide stripes until we reached the yoke. We then cut the white and grey when we were through with it, and re-joined the pink.
As for the larger stripes in the body of the sweater, we knit 10 rows in white, followed by 10 rows of grey. When stripes are so broad, it is not the greatest idea to carry the unused yarn up the side, without somehow tacking it down.
While we were knitting with the white, we twisted the grey and white together, ‘locking’ the grey in place. You can see in the photo below how nicely the white yarn traps the grey yarn, which means less ends to sew in at each colour change. Thank goodness for that!
If you have chosen a self-striping yarn, you are probably wondering how you can be sure that your front and back stripes will match. We find that your best bet is to begin your cast on at a point where the colour changes in your yarn. That way you can be certain that your stripes will nicely line up at your side seams.
This might mean that you will have to reel off some yarn when it comes time to cast on the front, in order for it to match the back. You can always use that little bit of yarn to knit up a matching hat, once you have completed your sweater.
Keep in mind that the stripes on your sleeves will not match up with the front and back of your sweater, as the stitch count and shaping are quite different. It is possible for your sleeves to match one another, but not possible for your sleeves to match the front and back without some MAJOR ‘yarn surgery’. (Which is not something that we are going to go into with this KAL).
Now that we have knit a swatch, discussed a little bit about designs and technique, it is time to get rolling!
As a reminder, here is the list of the abbreviations used in our pattern.
Abbreviations:
Here is a list of abbreviations used in our pattern.
K = knit, P = Purl, st(s) = stitch(es), alt = alternate, approx = approximately, beg = begin(ning), cont = continue,
dec = decrease, inc = increase, foll = following, rem = remain(ing), rep= repeat, sl =slip, st-st = stocking stitch,
tog = together, patt = pattern, tbl = through back loop, in(s) = inches, psso = passed slipped stitch over
And now finally– onto the knitting!
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BACK
With 3.25 mm needles cast on 67 (69: 73: 79: 83) sts.
K8 Rows.
If knitting a colour blocked version, now would be a good time to cut your yarn, and introduce your new shade.
In our case, this is when we switched over from the Authentic Cotton DK in shade 1258 (black) to 1261 (red).
Change to 4 mm needles and beg with a K row work in st-st until work measures 7 ¾ ( 8 ½: 9: 10: 11) ins from beg, ending with a P row.
Shape Raglan Armholes
Cast off 4 (4: 4: 4: 5) sts at beg of next 2 rows. 59 ( 61: 65: 71: 73) sts rem on your needle.
Next Row (right side of work): K1, K2tog, K to last 3 sts, sl 1, K1, psso, K1.
Next Row: Knit*
Rep these two rows until 23 (23: 25: 27: 27) sts rem, ending with a wrong side row.
Slip these sts onto a thread or a stitch holder.
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Your finished back piece should look a little something like this.
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please do not hesitate to leave them here, on Facebook or Ravelry!
We would love to hear from you all!
Happy knitting everyone!
ETA- If you require a PDF version of our pattern, it can be found by clicking on this link- KAL Week Two
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