Sweater Weather

A knitters favourite time of year.

Me wearing the Humulus by Isabelle Kraemer

Do you ever find yourself echoing things that your parents said to you?

“If you are cold put on a jumper” was one of the constant refrains of my childhood (NB - jumper in this UK context means sweater). And I often find myself saying it to my children as well who are more than happy to turn the heating on, on a chilly day rather than put an extra layer on.

I know that as a knitter I am biased but honestly, this is the time of year I live for. Unlike summer where I wilt and droop and sigh dramatically every 5 minutes, the colder temperatures of winter instantly perk me up and make me feel more invigorated.

Yes, it’s chilly - but that’s what we have clothes for. As knitters, let’s be frank this is what we spend our lives preparing for. I know a lot of people shy away from sweater knitting as they are worried about spending a lot of time (and money) on something that might not fit them at the end of it. But there are so many amazing resources out there to help now that it is well worth mastering the skill.

Once you get the hang of it, being able to customise your winter wardrobe and have a lovely stack of handknit sweaters to choose from I promise there is no going back. Not to mention the sheer thrill of delight when someone asks where you got your sweater from and you can say “thanks, I made it”.

I think one of the things that people find daunting is the myriad of different ways that you can knit a sweater. When I was little I remember sweaters were always knit flat in pieces, then pressed and sewn together. These days, thanks to the influence of the internet, it is much more common to knit a sweater on circular needles to minimise the amount of seaming needed. Although that’s not to say that there still isn’t a time and place for seamed knits when you need a bit more stability and sturdiness.

My preferred method is to knit top down as I like being able to easily try it on as I go, but knitting from the bottom up also has it’s advantages - not least because you can knit those pesky sleeves first as little portable travel projects. And they also function handily as swatches to check that your in-the-round tension matches that in the pattern.

There is a fun discussion on sweater construction and a poll happening elsewhere on my Substack in case you missed it - you can find it here if you want to catch up

Sweater knitting resources

Ann Budd has two books that are really helpful to get you started. I’ve used both of them and refer to them often, especially when I’m knitting for others. “The Knitter’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns” deals with different types of sweater construction whilst “The Knitter’s Handy Book of Top-Down Sweaters” focuses purely on top-down construction.

TinCan Knits Flax Sweater (and the TinCan Knits app) - this is a fantastic sweater pattern for beginners and if you download the app as well it magically removes all the extraneous numbers and just gives you the directions for your exact size - genius!

Kate Atherley is a renowned designer and tech editor. She has some great advice for garment knitting on her website, as well as information on adjusting patterns to fit.

Amy Herzog has a wonderful range of sweater patterns and offers a huge amount of information within each one to help you get the right fit.

A few sweater patterns in my queue - patiently waiting for their turn.

🧶The Field Sweater by Camilla Vad

🧶Niyat Pullover by

Kavitha

🧶The Weekender by Andrea Mowry

🧶Granito by Joji Locatelli

🧶Seaglass sweater by Wool and Pine

Has anything caught your eye recently? Why not pop into the comments and add your sweater knitting recommendations - it might be fun to see what everyone else is being inspired by.