Spunky Stripe
Hello there,
Take a look at this sweater. It is my latest creation and is an example of a garment that you could design yourself. I know, I know. I'm biased when I say that I think it looks fab!
There are the main things involved in designing your own knitwear ...
- calculations
- an idea, or inspiration of some sort
- type of yarn
- general style
Calculations
Calculations are easy - we do it for you. Click the link at the end of this blog.
Ideas & inspiration
In my case, I was in a cafe, enjoying a coffee with a few friends. It was a cold, wet and windy day and after our walk, we had ducked indoors to avoid getting drenched in the latest shower. As I was sitting down with my coffee and bun, I noticed another coffee-drinker wearing these colors. I'm no expert on color schemes, but when I like it, I just like it. Would you honestly put red and orange together? I wouldn't have. But it just worked on her!
Well. Those knitting needles started dancing in my head.
Yarn
Over the next few days, I found yarn that I liked, in shades which I liked. This one is called Feels Like Butta from Lion Brand and has the velvety feel of chenille without chenille's challenges.
This sweater used 6 balls of yarn - 2 black, 2 orange and 2 red. If your bust is size 35" (88cm) or higher, you will need an extra ball of red.
Style
Next was my design. I don't normally like anything up close against my neck, though in this case, I thought that it needed to be snug. 'Higher neckline than my usual', long sleeved & body-hugging seemed right. Red & orange to brighten up the winter. Black to tone it down a tad.
Onto the knitting pattern, which was, of course, designed here in this knitting-pattern-generator website! I picked round neck, long sleeves, set-in sleeves and a straight body. Normally I'd like a fitted body but picked straight sides as I reckoned that there would be enough complications with the stripes.
It is an aran-weight yarn (4.5mm / US 7 needles). Picked stockinette stitch & k1p1 rib. Next picked my size and made the body a little longer - I always like a bit of extra length. Kept going with my pattern, paid my money and hey-presto, got my pattern generated for me there and then.
The stripes
Needed to calculate the stripes myself as all Knit Anything patterns are for a single color. The stripes are not just 'an equal amount of each color'. The red appears twice, and only half the height of the other stripes. If you'd like to re-create the proportions on your next sweater, it goes like this (from the top down):
- 2 units of red
- 2 units of orange
- 1 unit of red
- 2 units of black
- 7 units in total
My sweater was 24 inches / 60 cm long. So, after a bit of rounding, the body became
- 7" (17 cm) red
- 7" (17 cm) orange
- 3" ( 9 cm) red
- 7" (17 cm) black
That's about it for my design!
Your pattern
If you would like to knit something like this, go ahead and make your own pattern...
or buy this pattern on my Ravelry store ...
Happy designing an happy knitting!
Martina