Well, if it works for kids' sweaters ...

For the past year I've been fascinated with sweaters knit from the top down.  I purchased two books to get me started:  Knitting Sweaters from the Top Down by Cathy Carron and Top Down Sweaters by Doreen L. Marquart.  Cathy Carron's book was the most helpful because it covered more of the theory behind custom-knit sweaters.  After searching the internet for a pattern I came across the Ultimate Custom Knit Sweater. 

I read and re-read those instructions for the last 6 months, needing to fully understand it.  And ... in my usual fashion I tweaked it here and there, re-wrote it and plunged in.  The result was everything I'd hoped for.  I wanted a bulky, slightly over-sized sweater to toss on for those cool, crisp fall days outside.  I wanted it long enough to keep my bum warm so I made the body length 17" under the arm and I made the raglan about an inch longer than my actual measurement to accomodate wearing it over a turtleneck. 

For the collar, I began at the left shoulder and cast on stitches all around the neck, then I cast on another 10 stitches overlapping the first 10 stitches.  I knit the collar back and forth in a rib stitch with the first and last 10 stitches in garter stitch, incorporating button holes evenly spaced over the 7 inches of the collar.  In order to have a nice fold-over on the collar, I started with my smaller needles, then went up a size after 2 inches and up another size after another 2 inches.  I'm quite happy with the results.  If it's cold and blustery, I can button the collar up into a nice snug turtleneck.

The pattern is actually very simple.  Knitting without line-by-line instructions  ... not so simple!  But I just plunged in and forged ahead blindly!  I chose a very inexpensive yarn (in case it totally flopped!):  Red Heart Worsted Weight yarn.  The nice thing about the Red Heart yarn is that it actually washes and wears very well.  Well, the pattern really works and the sweater is cozy and comfy and fits fabulously.  The instructions are available in the pattern list on the right.


I'll definitely be knitting more sweaters using this method.  In fact, I can't wait to try it in a finer yarn and a more close-fitting sweater.