I believe there are two types of knitters, the ultra-careful ones that faithfully follow a pattern and will not give up until they “get it right,” and those that cannot help adding their own “touch” to every piece. These are the knitters that no matter how hard they try to follow a pattern, end up skipping steps, adding and removing stitches at random when they notice they’re off track, and see any mistake as a decorative element. They’ll also do anything to avoid ripping back!
I identify mostly with the first group. Typically, I choose a pattern because I love what it looks like in the photo of the magazine, website, or book it is in, and I’ll often go to great lengths to get the exact yarn that is recommended. A good example is the April Blouse I’ve been working on, where I scoured the Internet to find the same yarn and color I had seen on the @sandnesgarn brochure.
I’m also the type of knitter that needs to fix their mistakes. I would rather start over than have a mistake bug me forever. I blame my grandmother for this mindset. She would always say, “If you’re going to do something, you should do it right.”
So, I tend to take each project as a small challenge, like a class I need to pass to achieve a higher skill level.
Last Friday, I finished knitting this red jacket, which was an experiment to see if I could adapt a pattern using a different yarn and a slightly different gauge.
Adapting a pattern was something I had read about, but never had to do. I was a bit nervous that my calculations wouldn’t work but decided to go for it anyway.
I must admit, this was a super low-risk experiment: The yarn I was using wasn’t too expensive and the pattern was pretty basic – a raglan construction knit in pieces that you then sewed up together– something I am quite familiar with.
The typical setbacks
I don’t think I’ve ever knit anything where I didn’t (at least momentarily) wonder if I was interpreting the instructions correctly. While working on this sweater, the instructions for making the sleeves slowed me down quite a bit.
First, I was trying to figure out if there was a special way in which to increase when knitting the half fisherman’s rib stitch, a stitch I had only used to make scarves.
Could you really increase only one stitch at each end and stay “in-pattern”? What type of increase should I use? Left-leaning, right-leaning, lifted increases? There are so many ways to do this. This led me down a rabbit hole of videos on Youtube.
Then, I had to decipher another part of the pattern. It said to increase every 8th and 10th row. Really? Hmm, that didn’t look right. I wish I had taken photos of the results. I ended up with pretty funny-looking sleeves! 😂
Thankfully, most patterns include schematics which helped me realize something wasn’t right.
This is the instruction that confused me the most:
“After first inc. cont. in half fisherman’s rib. At the same time inc for sleeve shaping at each end 1 st. on every 10th row 8(4) times and 1 st. on every 8th row 0(5) times.”
What I did: I increased on every 8th and 10th row “at the same time,” making the increases super close to each other.
What I was supposed to do: Work the first 8(4) increases every 10th row and [THEN] work 0(5) increases every 8th row.
After knitting and unraveling the left sleeve twice, I finally got it right on the third try.
Other minor setbacks during this project:
1- picking up stitches for the collar: I did this four times before I was happy with the result.
2- making the zipper band: For this, you had to turn your yarn into thinner yarn by removing some of the threads that made it up. This took a while but was totally worth it. It’s a cool new technique to add to my toolkit.
3- installing the zipper: This step has the potential to ruin your whole project, so I took my time to pin the zipper in place and carefully trim the excess.
The sweater took a bit longer to complete than I imagined, but it fits and I think it looks pretty good (although I’m not so sure I like it with this white shirt).
I can see this becoming my cozy “walk the dog in the mornings or evenings” sweater. It’s quite warm and super squishy. It would be great for sitting around a firepit if we ever go camping again.
I still really love the look of the cotton version of the sweater, so I might knit it again in cotton to wear next summer.
And now that I’ve dipped my toes in the world of pattern modifications, I think I would love to see if I can figure out how to add some pockets to this design.
Well, this feels like another completed class. And now it’s time to get back to work on the April Blouse! I have about six weeks left before summer ends.
These are two links I found useful while making this sweater:
Project Details
Pattern: Rebecca Knitting magazine #23. Pattern #3, Fisherman’s Rib Jacket
Yarn used for this sweater: Universal yarn Deluxe Chunky (bulky 7 wpi), 100% wool. Color: Autumn orange (23001, lot 10043), 100 g. and 120 yards/skein. Used approx. 900 g.