My First Knitted Sweater!

I KNIT A SWEATER!! While we were all sewing along, I was quietly click-clacking my needles in the background. It took me a month from start to finish, but I have been trying in vain for a full year to knit a sweater. I'm so glad I muddled through, because I am completely addicted to knitting now!

Here is it unbuttoned… I used buttons from the 1950s that I found on Etsy. I had to give it a vintage flair! 

And buttoned again… I just can't get enough! This sweater is so tremendously cozy, and easily my favorite that I've ever owned. It just makes me grin!  

The pattern is from Craftsy's aptly named "My First Sweater" class, and has a lovely eyelet detail at the sleeve that is created by doing yarn overs. It's knitted in five separate pieces and then seamed. The button band and neckband are picked up after and knitted. Now I am itching to give knitting in the round a go. Many say it's much easier as you can fit as you go. Thankfully, I didn't have to make a single fit change to this cardigan. I think it would have really overwhelmed me!

I had also never blocked before, which was much more intense than I anticipated! I felt like I was conducting a science experiment in my kitchen. I blocked each of the pieces before seaming them together. I found that was much easier to seam it that way.

After sewing for so long, I had forgotten what it was like to be a beginner. It's hard work! The extra guidance from the Craftsy class was what I needed to finally get past the beginner blues and get going. Amy Ross teaches the class, and she was great. She was very fast at responding to questions, and I was surprised by the amount of interaction I was able to have with her in the class. 

My only complaint was that I felt the class left off a lot of the information a beginner would likely need. For example, I didn't know you can pick up a dropped stitch with a crochet hook, so I spent one evening ripping out everything I had knitted that day to pick up one stitch that had lost its way! Then I had a calamity of errors trying to get going again. If you look real close, you'll see a bit of bumpiness in the middle back, where I had those problems. I also had never changed needle sizes or added a new ball of yarn, but Amy was great at answering questions.

Prior to this, I had knitted scarves and one baby blanket. Similar to my experience with sewing, my eyes didn't light up with excitement until I worked on knitting a garment. I also love that it's portable. It was great over the holidays to take this project with me to family while we were all lazing about after big meals. It's wonderful to be able to create even when you don't feel like doing much of anything! 

See more construction details and friend me on Ravelry!

*Update* Craftsy has kindly offered a giveaway to my readers for the "My First Sweater" class! So look for information soon on how to enter!