Project #1: Animal Cracker Sweater

I chose this sweater because a local yarn store was having a Knit Together for it. It was free, but one of their teachers runs it, and will demonstrate different techniques. It also gave me three dedicated hours to work on it once a week. I figure if I never get to touch it all week that would give me a little catch up time. I also wanted to compare myself to other knitters. Was I strictly a beginner? Was I fast enough? Was I neat enough in my techniques that it might look professional? It was a child’s sweater, but we were using almost the smallest needles possible so in the end we would make as many stitches as needed for an adult sweater.

I was encouraged that I was able to complete an intermediate sweater without much trouble. It takes patience. When a approaching a new stitch I would practice a swatch first before adding it to the finished piece. Still I was able to finish in the six weeks, and was the only one able to finish.

The yarn was Superwash Merino Wool. After washing it, it was so soft and sweater had a wonderful feel. The tiny needles were not a problem to work with, and gave it more of a “fabric” feel. For the sleeves I used a method in which you knit the sleeves in rather than sew them in. The only thing that was sewed together in the end was the side seams that went all the way from the cuff to the bottom of the sweater on both sides. The final size was 12 months, but it easily could have fit S at 18 months. I also came to the conclusion that I need to be just as happy with it turned inside out. By keeping the seams small, making sure all the ends are sewn in and hidden, and when using intarsia never pass over more than two stitches.

Overall I was very happy with it. It didn’t quite fit anyone I knew needed a gift at the time so I decided to donate it to our preschool’s raffle.