September 12, 2019 Bev Hulme Leave a comment
Is CDT already a ‘thing’? Maybe I’ve struck gold with this one!
I’m easily distracted at the best of times but I’m struggling with this website build – the words don’t come easily and my skills on photoshop, the most complicated program I’ve ever tried to learn, are very slow – so it’s time to take a break and make something! Making something is my ‘relaxation’ and I love the fact that you have something to show for your time! Well it works for me.
I know, I’ll finally undo that half-knitted lacy, chunky jumper and get that bag of wool off the floor in my workroom. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve started something, then put it down for so long I end up taking it apart and starting again… note to self… learn to finish things! Decision made – I’ll make a big baggy jumper in a square shape with drop sleeves and a simple neckline. You can see where I’m going with this.. easy and quick and I can manage without a pattern.
Creating the ‘Pattern’.
How did I work out the size? I measured another baggy jumper I have which is great widthways but this one will need to be longer. Then I knitted a 10cm square which showed me how many rows/stitches I needed to make the same size with my chunky yarn and Size 000 (UK), 10 (Metric) needles.
It didn’t take too long to knit the front up to where the sleeve starts, then I put that aside and started one sleeve. This was to ensure they would fit together properly. I could see where the shoulder will start on my arm and measured the sleeve length from there. Then I made sure the armhole on the front and back were the right size to fit the top of the sleeve. I did take a moment to double check on some pattern websites, which have final measurements of similar jumpers.
Front, back and two sleeves are finished, now for the neckline. I originally thought just to keep it a very simple open neck. Not too high, they don’t suit me, more of a ‘boat’ neck design maybe? But then I found a pattern with a wide neck – one description is ‘Bardot’ style. I thought I could add something like that – perfect for curling up on the sofa with the dog!
I found another pattern which had a similar neckline and looked at the instructions. Sew one shoulder seam, then pick-up stiches all around the neckline, do 6 rows then start the ribbing which will fold down over the top. Simple, except the number of stitches to pick up is different to the pattern which means I just have to give it a try and see how it works! The large needles were a bit cumbersome and the garment weighs a lot, but I managed to get started and then did a few rows before realising if it’s going to hang down around my shoulders it needs to be the width of my shoulders, not my neck. I increased stitches on a 1-3 ratio but having done the first rib knit row it was still going to be too tight, so I undid that and increased after every stitch, so now I have twice as many stitches as I started with. That works! The neckline is something between ‘Bardot’ and ‘cowl, but I like the look.
Finishing off
I’ve always wondered if there are different ways to finish seams on knitted garments as mine don’t always look as good as I’d like them to, so I googled how to seam a jumper and found some videos showing how to make invisible seams! It looks really neat although the seams inside are quite thick because of the chunky wool.
The side seams are invisible and I’m very happy with the shoulders .
Oh NO! As I pressed the sleeves, I realised they were growing longer and longer. They’re huge but I don’t know why? Maybe because the yarn is an acrylic/wool mix? Maybe the iron was too hot? I’m not sure what to do – I don’t want to take them off and re-knit them so I think I’ll leave them until after the first wash and see what happens. Hopefully they’ll ‘spring back’ and in the meantime I hope it’s ‘trendy’ to wear them rolled up!!
I’ve tried it on and apart from the sleeves its pretty snuggly… I’ll post how I got on after the wash and if I ended up having to re-knit anything…
Share this:
Posted in: Knitting Filed under: Chunky wool, Creativeknitting, Handmade
Post navigation
← Mum ?….. can you make me a straight jacket?
Hats for Display at Rainham Hall… →