I don't know about you, but I'm really excited that cold weather has finally arrived. (I sympathize if it hasn't yet made it to your part of the world.)
I am generally in the minority in that I love fall and winter, but for me, it boils down to this—I love my fall and winter wardrobe a lot more than my spring and summer wardrobe. And that's mostly because I can bust out all of my fall and winter sweaters that I've knit over the years (or over the preceding summer).
My sweater collection excites me mostly because I feel that I've finally figured out how to knit sweaters that fit me in the way that I like. I have gotten to the point, after much trial and many errors, of being able to look at a schematic and say "okay, I need to make these changes to have a sweater that fits my style."
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For example, I know that if I want to knit a seamless yoke sweater, such as Mended from Portfolio Volume 2, I typically choose a size that would be negative ease on me—I like a snug fit that doesn't have as much fabric sandwiched between my torso and arms. Because of the way seamless yokes have a lot of stitches at the full bust (the part of the sweater where the sleeves and bust are joined), I end up with a sweater that has just the right amount of fabric at the underarms.
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I've also learned that I need to check the cross-back measurement of seamed sweaters to make sure they fit my shoulders. The cross-back measurement is literally the width across the back—you can determine this by looking at the schematic at the width between the armholes. For a sweater such as Lamoille, from Booklet 375 Berroco Cotolana, the schematic shows the back width measurements (there's no waist shaping, so it's the same width the whole way up).
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Additional Tips from the Design Team
Amy Christoffers: Wash your swatch! The only way to know how the finished fabric will look and feel is to swatch, wash the swatch and let it dry completely. The subtle changes in gauge that can occur with washing will be revealed and you will be able to knit your sweater with confidence that it will fit and look fabulous.
Donna Yacino: When working with a large number of stitches, use stitch markers to help you keep your place.
Alison Green: When a pattern calls for binding off shoulders stitches over several rows, you can instead use short rows to create the same shape without the “steps.” Use the number of stitches bound off for each row to determine how many stitches before the end of the row to wrap and turn. After completing the short rows, you can join the shoulders using a three-needle bind off instead of sewing the shoulder seam.
Be sure to visit the Berroco Blog for even more tips and tricks
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To help you get in the mood for fall and winter knitting, we're offering a coupon code to our loyal KnitBits subscribers—that's you! Use coupon code
SWEATERWEATHER
at check out to save 15% on ANY Berroco pattern or booklet PDF.
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Coupon code MUST be entered at check out to apply. Coupon code expires October 17, 2016 at 11:59 PM EST. Offer only good for PDFs of individual patterns or booklets, cannot be applied to physical or out of print booklets or patterns.
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You could use the coupon code to get the pattern book or individual pattern for our Tuscan Tweed KAL!
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Don't forget about the Tuscan Tweed KAL, officially beginning this Friday!
Happy knitting,
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