My First Top Down Sweater

So I have been reading a hysterical knitting blog off and on for the past year: knitandtonic. The author, Wendy, has turned me on to the beauty of top down knitting. Instead of knitting pieces of a sweater separately, and seaming them all together in the end (all the while crossing your fingers and toes that the damn thing fits), you begin by knitting the neckline first, then sleeves, and finish with the body. At various stages throughout the knitting, you can even try on the sweater, to check to see that it's fitting! How novel.

And my favorite part is the nice, orderly seams created from top of shoulder to underarm, done with a series of double increases. Not a big fan of seaming, this method has won my heart. The sleeves have even been knit in the round (on 16" circulars) all the way down to the wrist to avoid any seams at all. I am a happy girl.

This green sweater is, indeed, my first attempt at the top down sweater, so I used an inexpensive wool from Lion Brand and large needles to make fast work of it. Will update you on the progress as I proceed down the body. Hmmm...to make it big and bulky, or to form fit the sweater to my wanting chest. ahh...decisions, decisions.

Oh, and if you are interested in trying this at home, I recommend you heed Barbara Walker's words of wisdom from her book: Knitting from the Top. The bible on this type of knitting, written in verbal format, is very easy to understand. Little to no knitting jargon... P1 wr st, psso, k tbl (2 times), *#!!@*$%%!!!!

If I Can't Be a Ballerina...

...at least I can wear their sweaters.

After a year or so, I have finally completed the ballet sweater! We weathered the storm of a moth invasion which destroyed a section of the sash, a failed search for a local "finisher" who didn't take six months to seam it, and a few (ok, many) glasses of wine as I converted the pattern from Speed Knitting: 24 Quick and Easy Projects.

I can knit and knit till I am blue in the face, but when it comes to seaming/sewing the different pieces together, I am nothing to write home about. It took the inspiration of a good friend all the way from Maui who flew up for our annual girl's weekend in Vermont, a boatload of patience and a toasty day in front of the fireplace to finally complete the seaming. Note to self: take a class on seaming/finishing. Or if anyone out there can point me to to a good website or book, it would be much appreciated. Hats of to Kate Starr for the expert finishing advice. One golden nugget of advice I took from her: you can hide a lot of mistakes in the armpits! Come to think of it, that may apply to life in general.