The Knitting Fiend

Guess what? I’m knitting a circular yoke sweater top down. Guess why? I was motivated by Marie who wrote me a nice email asking:

First I want to than you for all the great pattern generators you have posted. I was wondering if you know how to make round yoke cardigan sweaters in different weight yarns. I have a really awful time sewing up sweaters and would love to find a place to make this kind of sweater so I wouldn’t have to do so much sewing together of them. […] Thank you again. Marie

Guess what? I do know how to knit these.

I also know loads of women who love this type of sweater. The circular yoke tends to flatter feminine curves, you can adjust the fit as you knit, and the shape is classic. And here’s some more good news: they are very, very easy to chart. In fact, the only difficult thing about charting them is there are zillions of correct ways to work them correctly.

I know that sounds weird, but here’s the problem. Suppose I can describe one way to shape the sweater. Someone will say “But I read knitting guru so-and-so’s formual and I thought it said this!” The answer is: That works too!

In fact, both Barbara Walker and Elizabeth Zimmerman published “specific formulas” for shaping circular yokes; the two methods seem entirely different! Later, I’ll explain how they are “really” the two extreme limits of the “single generic yet flexible formula” for shaping circular yoke sweaters!

As I knit this, I’m going to blog about the sweater. I’ll cover at least these things:

I know, you stopped at the second bullet: No patterning on the yoke?!

This type of sweater usually has a yoke decoration! Well, I know writing a generator for that would be a bit tougher. But, strangely enough, I think it’s better to write the generator for the simplest case, and later explain how to modify for the “more challenging” case in words. At some later date, I’ll show how to add the yoke design.

For now: I’ll be knitting a plain, stockinette circular yoke sweater!

To make this design a little interesting, I decided to use a variegated yarn with long bands of color– long enough to make it around the entire yoke.

I investigated a bit, found that Berrocco Foliage was in my price range, had long enough color runs, and came in the bright, not subtle, not acid bright colors I wanted for a winter sweater. I phoned my LYS, and they had it in stock. So, I drove over and bought!

I started knitting, so I’ll be showing this over the next few weeks. (I may also show some argyle sock at points. I proof knit, but I’m giving a pause between socks so I can “forget” the method and then actually follow the edited directions when knitting my next sock!)

Oh.. and I’ll be publishing these in a series. As I post more, little numbers will appear below, and you’ll be able to find them all!