When I selected the simple step-by-step sweater pattern, I was hoping for a cozy sweater with the recommended positive ease of 6″. However, I made some measurement errors somewhere in the gauge swatch process. To be honest, I’m not sure that I even compared my swatch to the correct pattern gauge. With multiple patterns in mind and a few gauge swatches knit within a day or two, I think I may have gotten things switched around.
I could tell that things were looking a bit small very early on, but I stayed the course, fueled by optimism (and past experiences with superwash wool stretching). When it came off the needles, my sweater’s body sleeves were a smidge short and it was tighter in the body than I really wanted. But, in truth, it wasn’t quite as bad as I expected while I was actually knitting. Even before blocking, I started to tell myself that even if it didn’t have the right positive ease that it still looked nice as a more structured sweater, if styled well and as long as the sleeve length increased some during blocking.
With hopes high, I soaked the sweater and pinned it to my blocking mats. Here, I made a bit of another blunder by stretching too much with the t-pins, resulting in some wavy creases on the sides of the body and sleeves after it dried. But, the sweater did grow…a bit!
Unfortunately, the transformation from blocking wasn’t enough to meet the size I really intended, but it does fit and is comfortable to wear.
The step-by-step pattern is a great basic sweater, and I do recommend it overall. If I were to knit it again, I would do a few extra things, like:
- Properly measure gauge (duh!)
- Knit the optional German short rows. (I have never done a folded collar like this, and I underestimated how necessary the optional short rows might be to lower the collar in the front and avoid the puckering you see in the photos.)
- Try it on mid-project! (I never like switching to scrap yarn for this, but it would have been worth it. Based on what I’ve seen from other knitters, I may invest in some barber cord to make things easier.)
- Use a softer yarn. (I used Rowan Superwash Pure Wool from my stash, and I think its density contributes to the more structured result. I’m still happy that I worked from my stash for this one instead of buying more yarn though!)
All-in-all, this sweater adds a nice long sleeve option to my wardrobe for the (limited) cold weather months here. I may pair it with my poet scarf for a finished knitwear look.
Happy Knitting!
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