What sweaters are made of

When my Interweave Knits magazine comes, as quarterly it does, my mom always happens to glance at it before me.  When at last I am sitting on the couch and flipping through the colorful pages, cup of tea included, she hovers over and points at the designs she likes best.

I took note once and decided that, should I finally get around to it, I would make the simple aran sweater that she admired.

I bought the yarn at the end of the summer, but because of the other projects I had floating around, I set a starting date of October first.  I also decided to attempt to knit the entire sweater in secret, which (considering that we live in the same house and I normally like to knit in the family room) was no easy feat.

Amazingly I did finish the sweater in secret.  However, my opinion now is, "I never approve of surprises; the pleasure is never enhanced, and the inconvenience is considerable."  (A great quote from a great movie.)

I chose the yarn in light grey, Dove Heather in case you're curious, since natural and earthy colors seem to be the most flattering on people.  I have learned this from others' comments about my clothes:  I get the most when I wear tan, taupe, and oatmeal.  So I am making a conscious choice to go a little subdued in my yarns.

As for the pattern, I did not follow it straight through.  In fact, I modified much of it.  First of all, I chose to knit the front and the back together in the round.  And instead of doing the fancy ribbing on the front, I chose to do it all in k2, p2.

Knitting the sweater in the round is convenient because you do not have to sew the pieces together.  Seams raise the risk of error enormously, and thus I like to avoid them.  Keeping that in mind, I also decided to tackle getting rid of the seams at the armhole, because sewing sleeves into the body of any garment is AWFUL.

I may seem over dramatic on this, but I honestly HATE sewing sleeves.  How do you make sure it's in the exact center?  How do you know if the circumferences will match?  How do you keep the seam from looking messy?

Therefore, I avoided the pains and frustrations of sleeve seaming and improvised.  I picked up about 20 stitches at the cap of the sleeve, and I simply picked up stitches every row.  Some decreases were needed to ensure that I ended with the right number of stitches, but it was not so bad at all:  it only took me three attempts to get it right.  And then all I had to do was knit the sleeve in the round for the length that I wanted.

Problem solved.

Now, please note that lovely ribbing around the neck of the sweater.  I am so incredibly pleased with this edging.  Yes, it also took a couple attempts before I got it right, but re-dos are always, ALWAYS worth it!

I usually am frustrated and saddened by my neck edgings.  Most sweaters that I have made have necks that are too tight and do not stretch very well.  By the end of the day, I find myself pulling at the neck, trying to loosen it.  In this sweater, however, I mastered the loose-ish and stretchy ribbing, and I am pleased to say the least.

My mom's pleased, too.  Though, I am not sure that she was too interested in modeling for me....

If you are interested in more information about the modifications, let me know.  I found the sweater fun to knit, and I love the aran pattern designs on the front.  Definitely nice :)

Happy New Year!