A sweater is a big project. It takes time. So I enter the process slowly. I decide on the parameters of the sweater: pullover or cardigan? Will it have color work or texture or both? What technique have I never done before? Most importantly what will make it a, relatively, quick knit?
I want a pullover. I start looking at patterns in books and magazines. I browse patterns in ravelry and there are many sweaters I like but either the yarn is fingering (that will take forever) or there is too much colorwork (colorwork slows my knitting time down). I do not see any pattern that calls out to me.
I have an old sweater that I love to bits because of how it fits; oversized and sleeves long enough to roll up but I never really liked the v-neck. So I measure this sweater, every dimension very carefully and create a diagram with all the measurements noted.
I have been swatching a new yarn. I asked the mill to experiment with the polypay fiber I left there and create a 3 ply fingering and a 3 ply worsted. I had been swatching the worsted polypay and I was impressed by how the yarn knit up. I obtained a worsted gauge with both a US 8 and a US7. The main difference was that the fabric created with the US 8 was just a tad more firm. The US 7 created a fabric with more body and when blocked, it was lovely.
I still have not found a pattern to suit my vision and my lovely 3 ply worsted. I decided to create my own sweater based on my swatch and the description of a yoke sweater in “Knitting without Tears” by Elizabeth Zimmerman. The recipe she lays out is bottom up, uses steeks for the armholes (I have never done steeks, it is time to learn) and a simple yoke that I can finish with a crew neck or boat neck or whatever I think of when I reach that point.
I used a provisional cast on. The last step will be to go back and knit a folded hem. I decided to place a cable going up the front and a cable up the back. There will be lots of stockinette, which knits up quickly.
I am committed. I love an adventure.
beginning of sweater, bottom up, green yarn is provisional cast on