Category: Knitting

In 2017 I tried making a Misha & Puff style popcorn sweater. I had ordered a We Are Knitters kit (no longer available), even though I hated the color options, and gave it a shot. It went fine, but I made a teeny tiny error, didn’t have any idea of how to fix it, and gave up.

This is as far as that sweater got. The construction was not great (flat, seamed, no neckline shaping), and in hindsight I’m glad I stopped the project here.

Well after a year of knitting sweaters, I finally have a M&P style sweater, in a much better color too!

Even with six sweaters under my belt, I signed up for this lovely 4 week Wildcraft class with the pattern designer of the Louise Pullover. Short rows were, for some reason, deeply confusing to me and I thought some in person coaching would help. It was a great 4 weeks and I now feel like I can knit anything.

I practiced wrap and turns a lot before deciding to use German short rows instead. My wrap and turns were quite holey and the process felt a little more complex than German short rows. After completing the neckline shaping, I wanted to practice again while it was still fresh and started a second sweater. I don’t love the color of that yarn though, so we’ll see if it get used.

After knitting to a size 3, I decided to go up to a 4 for a more oversized fit.

I also decided to crop the sweater by 3″.

I decided not to use a smaller needle size for the neckline ribbing because I was using a worsted weight yarn instead of DK, and I knit pretty tightly. I wish I had though because after blocking, all of the ribbing stretched out a lot, especially the waistline. Knitting is some unpredictable magic.

I started this sweater on November 9th and finished it December 10th. I’m so fucking proud of it!

I love this sweater and I’m still kinda shocked that I made it.

This is the Lodge pattern by Ozetta. The yarn is Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in the color “Woodsmoke.” It’s very similar to my first worsted weight sweater, but this one I knit English style and my gauge is much more consistent.

I cast on on a flight home and had nearly half the body knit by the end of the trip. I only brought two cakes with me, so I had to stop working on it near the sleeve split.

Once I was reunited with the rest of the yarn, knitting the front and back panels went quickly. I was able to seam the shoulders together without throwing in lifelines, which felt like a huge accomplishment!

Visualizing knitting instructions has been the best way for me to learn. I wish more patterns included visuals, or even just more descriptions. It really does feel like learning a language. Ozetta is really good at responding to Instagram DMs though!

The I-cord cast off took a REALLY long time.

The slipt hem ribbing is so nice. The pattern’s sample photos really hide this detail and I was surprised and delighted to see them take shape.

I’m almost at a year of knitting! Last year, I assumed I’d try and give up again, but my wonderful knitting genius cousin, has been so helpful and such a big motivator! Thanks, Kristin!

I did it. I made a sweater with non-bulky yarn. It’s the Towns Sweater by Ozetta and I made a size M with Brooklyn Tweed’s Shelter in the color Fossil.

I learned so fricking much knitting this. I learned how to shape a neckline on a bottom up sweater, the kitchener stitch, how to pick up stitches, how to create a folded neck with a stretchy BO, math to adjust for row gauge, K2tog-L for sleeve decreases, the sewn tubular cast-off technique, and how measure and block a sweater. SO COOL.

Shortly before starting this, I learned how to knit continental and decided I would knit the Towns entirely in this style. I should have realized during the hem ribbing that my purls were much looser than my knit stitches, but I pushed through, hoping that magical blocking would smooth things out (that only sorta worked). Things got weird once I was knitting flat and there’s definite striping above where I split for the sleeves.

Joining the shoulders was where things got real spicy. I messed up both shoulders. The first one had what looked like only a small imperfection but I couldn’t leave it alone and once I snugged everything up, it turned into a giant, loopy knot. The second shoulder had a section where I slipped the stitches the wrong direction. It took going to a LYS to learn how to fix this mistake. I also bought some super thin cording to use as lifelines, which I throw in all the time now.

The neckline BO was a mind bender. It took a while to figure out how to hold everything and there’s a sliiiiiiight twist, but not enough to impact the wear.

My row gauge is always off, so the first sleeve I made was much too long. Thanks to math, I was able to figure out how many rounds I needed to remove to get the sleeve to be the right length. It was so exciting when it worked, but I did need to knit three whole sleeves to figure it out.

Despite having purchased skeins from the same dye lot, there’s a clear color difference between them. I feel like it’s less noticeable when it’s worn, but is super obvious when laid flat.

Despite its flaws, I am so pleased with this sweater! It’s going to get a lot of wear once it cools down.

When it comes to making stuff with my hands, I can usually pick up new skills pretty quickly. However, that seems to go to shit when I’m knitting. I think it’s because I can’t visualize what’s going to happen. I don’t have enough practice to know what I’m seeing. And that frustrates me. A lot. And fixing mistakes? Nope. Frog it. Frog it all.

My grandma taught me some basics when I was in high school, but we didn’t visit very often and I really needed some hand holding for it to stick.

Anyway, after abandoning learning to knit in 2017, I’m trying again. And taking a peek at past projects to show myself that I can in fact, do it. Above is some snood pattern from WAK that I’m pretty sure I donated.

After making that snood, I tried another WAK kit. I think it’s the Sienna beanie that I probably chose because of the name. I think it might have also been donated. I hate wearing hats since I have curly hair (such a commitment), but was told hats are a good place to start.

Shortly after the hat, I tried the Ranta scarf, which I ended up being pretty proud of. I was able to find a groove while knitting, but I also remember writing so many notes to keep track of where I was in the project. I don’t have any finished photos, but I did end up keeping it! Maybe one day I’ll even block it!

After making a snood, a hat, and a scarf, I thought I was ready for a sweater. Sweaters are the whole reason I have any interest in knitting in the first place. The dream is to add Babaà and Misha & Puff style sweaters to my skill set and wardrobe.

My Classic sweater turned out okay, but there are a few things I hate about it. Firstly, it’s constructed in pieces and seamed together. I cannot make the seaming look good. It also doesn’t have any shaping at the neckline (the front and back pieces are exactly the same) so I feel like I’m being choked when I wear it. And lastly, it’s HOT. I can’t wear it without sweating, but I get that chunky yarn is a good way to learn and it knits up faster.

After finishing the first sweater, even though it had problems I didn’t know I how to fix, I started a second. I finished making the sleeves, but that was it. I recently discovered them in bag filled with other unused yarn.

I abandoned the second Classic sweater for this bobble sweater. I was freaking ready for a M&P popcorn sweater to be in my life.

It even traveled with me! But after working on it for three months, I made a teeny tiny mistake and gave up. It was another knit flat and seam up pattern, which I was also not happy about so abandoning it was easy.

Ever since, I kinda told myself knitting wasn’t for me. But I really don’t like that I gave up on it because I wasn’t instantly good at it. I wasn’t instantly good at sewing, or drawing, or ceramics, or painting, but I kept learning because I got more immediate gratification from those practices.

Anyway, I’m giving it another go. My amazingly skilled cousin is helping me and I found a LYS that has “get unstuck” sessions. Wish me luck!