FO: Berkshire Dolman Sweater

It’s finally done after simmering in the UFO bin for two months.

Yarn: Cascade Ecological Wool in Black

Needle: Size 10.5

Pattern: Berkshire Doleman Sweater by Melissa Wehrle (Knitscene Fall 2009)

Size: 34″

Modification: I lengthened the torso by 4″ to give it a tunic look

What I like about this pattern:

- Quick knit considering it uses bulky yarn

- Show me another way to construct a sweater. The sweater is knitted in pieces, back and front and bottoms up. It starts with 4″ hem ribbing, I add in 4″ stockinette stitch in the body followed by waist shaping (decrease 2 stitches every certain rows followed by increase 2 stitches every certain rows). From there, the sleeve is constructed by adding stitches via backward loop cast-on on both seam sides so that you don’t have to sew in sleeves. Up next is shaping the neck line via bind off (only for front). After the front and back are done, the next step is to block and at the same time knit the turtle neck (knit in 2×2 ribbing in tubular shape). Afterwards, seam front and back, attach the turtle neck to the neck edge, pick up stitches to add 2×2 ribbing to the sleeves

What I don’t like:

- seaming the pieces since my seaming skill sucks

- It is not as fitted as I intended. I should have knitted a size smaller to get the negative ease. Partly also I have not mastered the art of fitting (more on that later)

- the yarn itches me and I have to wear a long sleeve t-shirt underneath

Speaking about fitting, I need to work on my fitting skills. The sweaters that i knitted have been kind of hit or miss because I always knit my bust size and factor in some ease that i think it’s appropriate. I found this article through Ravelry which is quite eye-opening. The highlights from the article:

- Find the favorite sweater that fits me well and start to dissect the measurement to figure out my right measurements. My old way of just looking at bust size is so insufficient. I should also pay attention to neck opening width and depth, armhole depth etc.

- Check the schematic given in the pattern and compare it to my measurements based on that favorite sweater. A caveat on this, if the favorite sweater is made of thinner yarn compared to the yarn for the new project, i need to add extra ease so that the thicker sweater fits as well as the thinner sweater and vice versa.

All it means is that I can’t knit blindly from the pattern anymore and I will have to dissect each pattern that I am going to work with and do some math to fit the pattern to my measurements. I am also reading a few fitting threads in the ravelry to gain more fitting knowledge. I am thrilled to be challenged.

Up next is sewing, I am planning to spend my christmas break sewing from Sew U book. There are three patterns given in the books: skirt, shirt and pants. I realize that I was an impatient learner and jumped from skirt to complex dress when I first learned sewing. This time, I want to take my time and learn all the beginner techniques at my own pace via this book.

As to my plan for the weekend: meet up with my b-school classmates and have lunch, put up that darn xmas tree (boy, 2 weeks to xmas and still no tree?), work a little, trace and cut up the skirt pattern from Sew U, visit a friend who just had a baby (if I am not still coughing). Have a great weekend people !!

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