Sweater Pattern in Bite Sized Pieces

Good Morning,

Another great day!  Hope where you are you are enjoying this slightly cooler weather.

Spent some time with my photographer, Matt, this morning.  He was taking some pictures of a sweater I knit in late winter for one of my students and the Scribble Lace Cowl.  The Scribble Lace Cowl will be ready in a few days if anyone is would like to try it.  I had mentioned in an earlier blog that I will share it with any who are interested. 

Back to the sweater.  This design was in Interweave Knits Fall 2009 issue.  It is called Farmer's Market Cardigan by Connie Chang Chinchio.  Sandy, my student,  had put the sweater on her "to knit" list soon after purchasing the magazine.  I think it remained on her "to knit" list due to the fact that she wasn't sure about knitting the pattern.

Anyway, months later, she was shopping at one of her LYSs and found a great sale on a couple of bags of yarn.  When she came to the next knitting class, Sandy brought the magazine and a ball of the yarn with her.  I told her that she would most likely get a good result with this yarn, but a gauge swatch was a must.  She was still quite nervous about knitting this sweater, not feeling quite up to the task. 

The following week, she came back to class with a gauge swatch, and a perfectly matching gauge, but still very nervous.  I'm sure it had to do with the fact that there was a great deal of shaping in the form of vertical darts both front and back plus the usual shaping that a fitted cardigan has.  There were several "at the same times" in the pattern and it was that, I felt, that made her hesitate, as well as a more intricate collar and top of pocket.

I offered to rewrite the pattern out for her to follow easily.   The pattern was broken down into manageable bite sized pieces with all of the shaping mapped out, numbered and bulleted for repeats and rows. All Sandy had to do was just check off the rows and repeats as she knit them.

Some weeks later, she brought the sweater back to class and asked me to finish it for her.  I felt badly that she didn't want to finish it herself, but knowing her as I do, it would just sit there, unfinished and doomed to the eternal closet.  On closer inspection, I noticed some gauge changes, probably due to her anxiety levels at the time, and I was fearful of being unable to match her gauge.

Without telling her right away, I began the sweater from scratch.  Fortunately, she had plenty of yarn to do this with.  Within a  month, I had finished and blocked her new sweater.  I had done a little tweaking, as I do with all patterns that I knit, just can't help myself, and the sweater looked as if it might have been designed for her.  The fit was beautiful, and she has received many compliments.  Connie's sweater design was a hit with all of Sandy's friends. 

The point of my story is, don't be afraid of what looks to be a complicated pattern.  Take the time to pull it apart.  Rewrite by hand, or copy the page and pull it apart, enlarge it, do whatever it takes to work through whatever areas in a pattern are causing you stress.  The first step is just to check your gauge and then cast on.  So many times it is just getting started that is so daunting.  I'm sure Sandy might have been able to finish, if she was able to sit with me the whole time, but she does a fair amount of traveling preventing that.

So, take a deep breath, a little attention to details, and cast on those stitches.  Take your time.  You have no race to win.  If it takes you a month, two months, no matter, just whittle away at those stitches and rows.  I will share the photo with you as soon as Matt does the editing.  Since it is an Interweave Pattern, I will also submit it to Knitting Daily.  I will let you know if it is accepted and posted on their website.

Happy Knitting!