Although I've been knitting since I was eight, I've never been very confident to vary from the pattern at all. I know it's possible to knit a sweater in the round even if the pattern hasn't been done that way. My question is this. If I do this, do I decrease the number of stitches on the needles because I don't need to seam it? What do I do when I get to the armhole shaping? Should I switch to back and forth at that point? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!
Sarah
A knit along for those needing a little splash of color in their lives... namely RED!
Join us
Join this knit along if you are in the mood to knit a wonderful red sweater. Any red sweater will do, any shade of red, any pattern you want—just so long as it's red.
Contact Anne or Laura to join. We need your email address in order to send you an invitation. ;-)
By the way... There's no time limit to this KAL. This isn't a race or anything like that, either. We're just here to knit red sweaters! :-)
Buttons
Choose a button, and link it here:
redsweaterkal.blogspot.com
redsweaterkal.blogspot.com
I did these two. Eh. The color's good. Red! I like Anne's buttons better. :-)
Red letter days
I know that often there aren't prizes given to KAL participants, but there will be this time. Since this isn't a race or anything, prizes won't be given out for the first sweater knit or anything like that. Anne had something a little different
in mind, and it goes like this...
Prize contributors will pick a Red Letter Day. The names of all the current KAL participants will go into a hat, and one will be drawn. Ta da! A prize winner is born. The contributor will contact the winner, get her address, and send off the winnings.
Anne wanted me to be sure to let you know that anyone can contribute to the Red Kitty. To put it in her words, "maybe leftover red yarns from KAL projects, i dunno! books, needles, etc, also welcome." Let Anne or I know directly (email us) if you want to add to the Red Kitty.
Prize contributors
Chris wants to celebrate her red letter day, November 1, her birthday, in style by donating either a 1500 yard skein of red Legend yarn or two hanks of the bulky Sonoma in red, winner's choice. Either way, it's enough to knit a sweater.Winner: FiberjoyDeb will give away a ball of red merino sport weight yarn on November 3, 2006.Winner: Julia FCLynn will give away a set of four ladybug stitch markers on November 11, 2006.Winner: CharityLillith will be giving away a kit for a little red beret, on November 17, the day she's having her commitment ceremony. The yarn is her own handspun (similar to this); the pattern is included.Winner: LynAlso on November 17, 2006, we have Karen celebrating her birthday by giving away a copy of the book, Simply Shetland 3 - at Galisteo.Winner: CarolePeg will give away "some lovely red yarn and a few goodies in a red chocolate package" on November 19, 2006, her 46th wedding anniversary.Winner: oakleyoriginalsAnne will be giving away one of her own patterns (winner's choice) on her anniversary, November 25, 2006.Winner: CarieJo will give away one 100g/160meter skein of her yarn on December 1, 2006. The yarn will have everything from ribbon to glitter, handspun to homespun, eyelash to mohair, in reds of course but also golds, emeralds, and all the colors that evoke the glamour of a bygone age. It will make a scarf or small shawl that stops even winter traffic.Winner: kbattenhenderLaura will give away two 50g balls of burgundy Socka sock yarn on her very own red letter day, the celebration of her day of birth (we won't go into how many years its been): December 4, 2006.Winner: JanJacqui wants to add an Australian flair to the festivities. She has two balls of Rare Essentials cocoon in cherry (a blend of superfine merino, alpaca, silk and mohair) and one ball of Jo Sharp Desert Garden Aran Cotton in mareschino that she wants to give away on her birthday, December 14, 2006.Winner: EarinErica has a whole collection of things to give away on December 16, 2006 in two batches. Batch 1: a 100g ball of Opal sock yarn, a keychain sock blocker and mini-sock pattern, and a set of stitch markers. Batch 2: a ball of Brown Sugar yarn from Yarn Pirate, and a set of stitch markers.Winners: Briar Rose Fibers and PegAnne wants to celebrate Valentine's Day 2007 with style by giving away some yummy red yarn and a sweet surprise.Winner: Deb
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Contributors
- Ai Ferri Corti
- Angie
- Annette
- Apple Pomegranate
- Bear Knits
- Carie @ Space for the Butterflies
- Carole Knits
- Cathy
- CaveGurl
- Charity
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- Dawn ;)
- Deb for Fearless Fibers
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- Emily/Knit Addictions
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- HeatherKnits
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- jennsquared
- knitography
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- louise
- monkeybusiness
- pei girl
- southern gal
- woolcat
Listed
2006 Knit-Alongs page.
Red scarves, too
If you like red scarves, too, be sure to check out the Red Scarf KAL.
Blog Archive
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2006
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November
(89)
- Gift knitting? What's that?
- STALLED
- Red Bob
- The Freya sweater
- Front Shot
- On the Edge
- Just Finished
- My red (green) gable sweater is done!
- Getting That Yarn Ready For A Lucky Winner!
- Calista Yoo's Aran Off-Shoulder Sweater
- Happy Red Days
- Progress on Samus
- Success!!!
- Am I Jinxed By Starmore?
- I finished!
- The Intro and the Urban Aran
- today is a RED LETTER day!
- Vogue Oversized Pullover Progress 2
- maple leaf rag
- Vogue Oversized Pullover Progress
- Progress!
- Feather and Fanning Myself
- This Time I'm Really Getting Going
- Finally on the needles!
- Sweater is finito
- I'm Waiting for Santa to bring my red yarn!
- Sonoma Red sweater slowly grows
- Grrr!!! Another restart
- Progress - really!
- What to do, what to do?
- It Fits!
- Almost finished
- The sweater grows...
- Look - actual progress!
- Advice, please
- Slow, but Steady Progress
- today is a RED LETTER day!
- Woe is me...
- Take 2....
- Rescued Red Sweater Project
- i'm a joiner
- Thank you Lynn!
- I won!
- today is a RED LETTER day!
- My Red Sweater is finished!!!
- Help!
- whah!
- The Sweater Progresses!
- Finally RED-ee...
- tower of sleeve
- Newcomer
- Finally!
- How wonderfully serendipitous...
- Couldn't find yarn I liked, so I ordered some fibe...
- Question
- Red Sweater Progress
- It's decided...
- Too many patterns and yarn!
- Double time
- Nantucket Sweater
- Late starter
- slowed progress
- today is a RED LETTER day
- phase one blocking
- Future Sag
- Red Ribbed Cardi
- Sonoma Reds
- Almost There
- Yo, I'm back in the game!
- malabrigo express
- Red Sweater!
- Red Sweater Plans
- So here's my dilemma...
- So undecided
- A Finished Red Object!
- Progress... maybe
- Joining and Finishing
- oh no, not again!!
- Progress...
- finally...
- Red Scarf knitalong!
- It's finished :-)
- today is a RED LETTER day!
- A Red Letter / Red Sweater Day
- Help! Opinions please.
- the red hills
- Eris Is Finally Underway
- A Vest and a change of plans!
- today is a RED LETTER DAY!
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November
(89)
6 comments:
I've never done it before, but I remember reading that you definitely need to reduce the number of stitches (I would guess at least 4 - 2 for each side) but don't know for sure, I tried googling, but having no luck, sorry.
i would be somewhat careful about removing seams from a garment. seams provide structure and help garments keep their shape. sweaters with cables, color-stranding, and twist stitches will do fine without the seams because the fabric has more stiffness to it. but if your fabric and yarn are too soft, you might consider keeping the seams to help it stay shapely.
Well, the yarn is certainly a soft DK. Maybe it is just best to keep the seams. I don't want to spend all that time knitting to end up with a frumpy looking sweater.
I hate flat knitting so I often change patterns so I can knit them in the round. Any of Elizabeth Zimmermann's books can help you learn to alter flat knitting to round knitting. I don't know what type of sweater you're knitting, but my suggestion is to determine your gauge, determine the finished chest circumference you desire, and cast on the appropriate number of stitches. To fix the "seam" issue, you can use EZ's method of "phoney seams" which I think works great. Armhole shaping depends on if you're working a set in sleeve, drop sleeve, or whatever. If you'd like more info than I can give in this vague comment, email me at knitwitATknitaddictionsDOTcom and I'll try to help. Or check out some of EZ's books for help.
Thanks for the tips Emily! I'm going after work to see if my public library has any of EZ's books. I want to check out her "phoney seams" method that you referenced! If I am still confused, I'll send you an email.
Great! Good luck! Let me know if you have any questions and I'll do what I can to help!
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