Sweater Project #5 - 25 February 2025

Here's a new update to my sweater knitting project. It looks finished, but alas, I still need to count it as a WIP, or Work in Progress because it has two main ‘details’ :

_{I'm glad I got this far.}

Firstly both sleeves feel a bit tight from the elbow down. To make the sleeves more comfortable I need to unravel quite a few rows and to continue knitting without decreasing as I did before. Also when I reknit one sleeve I’ll keep the other sleeve unravelled for a while to be able to compare for width and length. When I get to the new cuff section I will need to decrease a few stitches so the cuff is tighter. The final number of stitches for each cuff was 44. I will keep the same 2x2 rib as it looks neat that way.

Secondly the body of the sweater, ie front and back, should also be a bit wider. It’s currently okay but not how I envisaged it : a bit oversized and comfortable. For a future sweater or cardigan project I will need to reconsider the amount of ease I will be adding. It’s not the first time I need to add more ease because what I’ve knitted feels a bit tight. There’s the option of adding a couple of side panels which would save me having to unravel so much. I will look into that as the jumper needs to be worn before the summer comes !

Although I (half) followed a (cardigan) knitting pattern, right from the beginning this jumper has involved lots of ‘frogging’ or unravelling. For instance when making the V-neck collar I initially picked up too few stitches along the edge. After a couple of rows I noticed a bit of bunching up and after unravelling and starting again it laid better.

Sadly I only have 50g left out of the 500g I had originally bought for this jumper. This means that I’ll be watching how fast the yarn goes down and I even have a plan B for the sweater cuffs should I completely run out of yarn.

_{That's how much yarn I've got left.}

My plan B involves knitting the new sleeves up to the cuffs with the same yarn, but I could then knit the cuffs using a ‘similar’ type of yarn. Have a look and compare below :

The main difference between the two colours is the lack of cream and light brown in the possible cuff replacement. The yarn is still described as rainbow so the colours will not be too discordant.

Running out of yarn is a definite disadvantage when buying at a supermarket which only stocks a certain amount of yarn for a couple of weeks or until it runs out. That’s a definite issue to consider for future purchasing decisions..

I'm using the Textile Club Tag to see whether anyone else is interested in knitting and to increase coverage of this craft.

Thank you for reading !