My post in October 2017, seen here, invited you to follow along on my journey to design and knit a custom sweater for my brother, Bob. I am happy to report that all is going well, thanks to a bit of time off recently.
To make sure the sweater fits the way he likes, I measured one of his favorite sweatshirts.
This video shows you the key areas to measure.
Make sure you knit the swatch in the stitch pattern that you intend to use on the garment:
I cast on using 2 skeins of yarn for 238 sts:
joined in the round:
and worked a K2, P2 rib for 1.5″.
I’m not that fond of working K2, P2 rib for a long time.
I mentioned this to one of my sisters. It seems to take forever.
It can be a bummer. It is a necessary part.
She commented, “Just like puberty.” Exactly.
I chose a three-over-three left crossing cable and off-set
the cable twist every 12 rows for the front body.
The back of the sweater is stockinette stitch.
So now I am on my merry way. The following pictures show the progress
through the first skein:
The second skein:
And the third skein:
So there it is so far! Next time I post about this sweater,
Bob lives in Maryland and has two pet Babydoll sheep. Their names are “Wooley” and “Lambchop”.
“Wooley”“Lambchop”
Quoting from Mylittlesheep.com: “Babydolls are sweet. They are peaceful, curious, intelligent, and like to interact with each other and “their people”.” You can learn more about Babydoll sheep by clicking on this link: Mylittle sheep.com.
The main thing knitters need to know about Babydolls is that they make great outdoor pets and their fleece is beautiful.
These two sheep have been completely sheared twice so far in their young lives. They also have their faces and undersides sheared a second time per year. If their fleece is allowed to continue to grow around their face, it can cover their eyes completely, causing “wool blindness”. The wool from the two complete shearings was saved, carded and washed. Babydoll sheep fleece has a very short fiber, so to enable the wool to be commercially spun, it was mixed with 50% merino. Each skein is about 220 yards and the yield was 55 skeins! That is a lot of yarn! So… I will start by making him a sweater. That should make a very small dent in the amount!
The Plan
I took measurements from a well fitting garment that Bob owns. I sketched out a schematic with all of the vital numbers:
Then, I decided what stitch design I wanted. I chose a three-over-three left crossing cable and off-set the cable twist every 12 rows. The back will be plain stockinette stitch. Of course this means that I had to make a swatch with the stitches that I will be using in the garment!
Then I had to measure the gauge in both the stockinette stitch portion and the cable stitch portion. For help figuring out how to measure gauge, see my previous blog post, “It Really Is All About the Gauge”.
I got a gauge of 5.22 stitches per inch in stockinette stitch and 6.66 stitches per inch in the cable pattern. As you can see, the cable pulls the fabric in quite a bit, so I will have to do a bit of math to figure out the stitch count for the front and back. Math, math, math (doing the math)… The sweater will be 21″ across the chest for the front. 21 x 6.66= 140 (rounded) sts for the front. The back will be 21″ x 5.22= 110. The cable pattern is a multiple of 8 plus 2 (a 6 stitch cable and 2 purls between equals 8 sts in the cable pattern and I also want to have two purls on the opposite end to balance.) That means that for the front of the sweater I need to have 138 sts to make the pattern come out evenly. Since I need 140 sts for the front, I am going to add two knit sts on either side of the front that will blend in nicely with the back stockinette stitch. I will make the sweater in the round to the armhole. That means that the body of the sweater will have 250 sts. Whew. Time to cast on.
I want to use a measurement of 40″ circumference at the hip. I am using my stockinette gauge to calculate. I will use a 2 x 2 rib, which is a multiple of 4. So, 40″ x 5.22= 208 sts. Is this a multiple of 4? Why yes, yes it is! When I finish my border of about 2″, I will increase evenly to 250 on the last row of ribbing using a Knit Front and Back increase and then begin the cable pattern. I have decided to use the German Twisted Cast On (or HERE) to begin, it is nice and stretchy and looks good. I have an entire blog post detailing the German Twisted Cast On!
Finally, since there are 250 sts to cast on, I used two skeins of yarn to cast on so I wouldn’t run out of the long tail.
So, there it is! The very beginning of the Wooley and Lambchop Sweater for Bob!
So many cast ons, so little time… Two of the MCCOs (Most Common Cast Ons): the Backwards Loop Cast On and the Long Tail Cast On.
Beginning knitters are usually taught how to do a “backwards loop” cast on first. Other names for this cast on are: e-wrap, thumb, half hitch, and loop. Whew. I am sure there are many more names for this easy cast on, depending on where you live and who taught you to knit, but I will leave it up to you to find more. I am slightly dizzy after thinking of just those few. A backwards loop cast on begins with a slip knot:
There are pros and cons to the backwards loop cast on. This cast on can become very loose if the needles are pulled too far apart during the first row of knitting. Consistency in the loops is difficult to maintain, but it is by far the easiest cast on to master, especially for young children learning to knit. Because the edge is likely to be loose, it is a good cast on for underarms or necklines with the knitting already in progress. Usually these areas are finished with a seam or edging, so the e wrap cast on will not be visible.
The “long tail cast on” is probably the most common of all cast ons. Other names for this cast on are two strand, thumb, and sling shot. It makes a decent looking edge, it is fairly stretchy and it can be done quite quickly once learned. It is a bit tricky for the newest knitters, and takes a bit of practice to get it even and loose. I have almost never seen a long tail cast on that is too loose; usually the problem with this cast on is that it is too tight. Because you are working with two strands of yarn, (the “working” yarn and the “tail”), this cast on cannot be done with the work in progress unless you are willing to add another piece of yarn as the tail, and that is just a bit silly, now, isn’t it?
The chief query among knitters is “How long should the tail be?” In short, nobody knows. Sorry about that. There are myriad tricks for estimating tail length, from wrapping the yarn around the needle, estimating 1″ of tail for every stitch and so on. Because I have been doing this a long time, I will confess: I just guess. If I waste some yarn by guessing too much, oh well. I usually only run out of the long tail when the yarn is very bulky. (Big yarn, big needles, more long tail is needed.) The thumb seems to use less yarn than the forefinger, so one tip is to place the tail over the thumb and the working yarn over the forefinger. You can also try estimating how many inches the cast on will be and triple that number for the length of the tail. So, a scarf that is 8 inches wide would need 24 inches worth of tail. You are welcome to experiment with any method you like!! Get back to me when you have the definitive answer! Finally, if you are casting on a lot of stitches, (say more than 90), and the yarn is precious, use two skeins of yarn, one as the “tail” and one as the “working yarn”.
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