I've been on a complete sweater kick. It just goes to show that once you get bitten by the sweater bug it doesn't go away! So here is a sweater that I made back in the Spring! I'll keep updating you on the ones I've been working on!
Welcome to the "Bossa Nova" We are Knitters sweater. I actually saw this sweater over a year ago when I didn't even know about We Are Knitters. When I first got onto Instagram about 2 years ago I started following a beautiful girl named Carmen (who's Instagram is @littlec_knits ) and have always admired the beautiful shirts and sweaters she makes. Fast forward a year and I was trolling this pattern on the WAK website when I realized that she had actually created it!
I've never used cotton in my life and when I got it I was thrilled. I nearly ran the postman over to get it. It's so soft and cushy... and very thin and small. For some background; I'm a chunky knitter. If it's super thick, soft and like a cloud I am all over it. I'm accustomed to big massive needles, so to switch up and use tiny US size 8 (5MM) I think I nearly died.
Here are some tips when making a sweater out of cotton or a yarn size that you're not accustomed to:
1. Gauge gauge gauge - I have always been one who hates doing this, but there's a reason why they say to always make a test sample first. This makes sure that you aren't knitting too tight or too loose for the pattern. If you're big, go down a needle size. if you're to small go up one! It would suck to loose 1-2 inches in length just because you seized up and knit too tight.
2. Watch your tension - This sweater was a true test in making sure my tension was on pointe. Around a 1/3 of the way up the first panel I started to get the hang of how many fingers I liked the yarn to wrap around before I started a row and then how to keep it throughout the rest of the piece. It felt awkward at first but got better as the sweater went on. There's nothing worse than knitting something and all your stitches are weird sizes, shapes and not uniform!
Here's the finished piece! I order it in Pearl Grey.
I did everything straight to pattern and had plenty of extra yarn left to play with. I find the sleeves a bit short, and I would have liked it a bit longer to hide my bum when I wear tights, but I think most of the We Are knitters patterns are made as a shorter style anyways. Next time more seed stitch!