You can use any yarn to knit any pattern! You just have to do a bit of maths first. Skeins of yarn are not made equal in their yardage even when they're the same weight. The recommended number of skeins in the pattern will be based on the recommended yarn within the pattern. Multiply the number of recommended skeins by the yardage in one skein of the recommended yarn to get the total required yardage. Then, choose your substitute yarn (ideally, the same weight of yarn, though you can use combinations, e.g. mohair + fingering as a substitute for a DK). Divide the required yardage by the yardage-per-skein of your chosen yarn, and that tells you roughly how many skeins you will need.
exactly!! it's also possible that you're knitting a lot tighter than the pattern wants you to, meaning it takes more yarn to knit the same amount of fabric. for this reason, patterns give you the 'gauge' you need, or how many rows and stitches are in a 10cm x 10cm square. so it's a good idea to make a swatch before starting a pattern so that it will fit, but also so you're not using up more yarn!
also good to check to make sure the yarn you choose is a similar construction (not sure if this is the right word) to the yarn in pattern- single ply yarn vs. 4 ply vs chainette vs boucle vs whatever else is out there! sometimes it won’t make a huge difference, but sometimes it will! some yarns have more air in them so the weight/meterage will differ, even if it appears to be the same size or weight (dk, worsted, chunky, etc.) of yarn
I rarely knit with the recommended yarn! Knit gauge swatches, and think about yarn structure, and you can go wild. I’d recommend reading Clara Parkes’ Knitter’s Book of Yarn or something similar to get really comfortable
@@emmajones3170I was also going to come in here and recommend gauge swatches (which feels like reminding someone to eat their vegetables haha) But it really does help, and saves all that time of ripping out and redoing if it fits wrong
Brilliant sweater and video! Some quick tips from a more experienced knitter- a top down in the round sweater (knit all as one piece, no sewing needed) is typically easier than a pieced sweater (although for some reason no one ever tells this to beginners). If its stockinette stitch that means youll only have to do knit stitches, which are preferred by most people to purl stitches, plus you can try it on as you knit it and adjust the length as you please. I would really recommend ravelry to find patterns- petite knit and jessie maed designs are both known as really good designers who write their patterns clearly and are size inclusive! Its slightly tricky, but you can crop the sweater to your preferred length without extra knitting- youll have to unseam the sides to the length you want, then cut a few rows above the rib (placing in a safety line of thread to catch all your stitches before you cut), and cut at the length you want the stockinette portion of the sweater to end (with safety line in these stirxhes as well). Then you can graft the two portions (rib and rest of sweater) together (with a sewn grafting stitch, very simmilar to a kitchener stitch), repeat for the other side, and then sew the side seams together. I would highly recommend practicing on a swatch first though!!! Knitty natty did this with her alpenglow sweater, i believe she has a video showing the whole process! Youre a fantastic knitter though and for a first sweater this was amazing (and the colour analysis people were wrong, purple looks great on you)
I just wanted to suggest top-down-in-the-round sweaters as well. They're so easy to knit and the length is super easy to adjust. My first sweater was a flax light by Tin Can Knits and I also knit the DRK Everyday Sweater by Andrea Mowry. Both of them are very beginner-friendly I think.
Leena! We met at the WPF festival and you commented on my yarn/skein tattoo. As a HUGE knitter, I'm here to tell you you did an amazing job! The "mistakes" & "miscalculations" you made are quite common, even among veteran knitters, so well done! 💕
Fellow novice knitter here! I've been working on a knitted patchwork blanket for well over a year and it's taking me bloody ages! I'm very, very impressed with how many things you've made within your first six months, and how good they look! This sweater? Could have bought it from a store for all I'd know. The craftsmanship is just impeccable, as is the choice of the delicious forbidden purple. You should be very proud!
haha aw thank you - as long as you don't get too close, it looks pretty seamless. Cheering you on for the patchwork blanket, I'd love to do a patchwork bedspread at some point!
Knitting with your mum on the train was sweet, and the music, so meditative. I never knew my grandmother but my childhood was filled with things she knitted for me, and she was my inspiration to learn to knit at the age of 7. There is something so amazing about sharing this ancient craft with women across generations. If you can find a local knitting group, I highly recommend it.
I've always found I like knitting "top down" style sweaters because you can try the garment on as you knit. It makes getting the exact length you want a bit easier. The style you did here is know as a "bottom up" style sweaters. The same nomenclature is used for socks, tanks, etc. Also, blocking tends to elongate your work a bit--as does just general wear and care, so that's something to keep in mind when you choose your length.
If you want any unsolicited knitting advice for someone who's been knitting for a few years, here goes: 1. When you get another yarn than the one in the pattern, check gauge and yardage (I think it's called, I knit in Swedish 😂) and knit a swatch to make sure everything matches up. You can adjust needle size and amount of yarn to make it work. 2. I much prefer knitting sweaters top down on circular needles, so you knit it all in one piece. I also prefer cropped sweaters, and if you do it like that, you can try it on as you go any it's easier to adjust the length to your liking. Also it's just more fun, imo 😂 I'm sure lots of people make patterns like this, but I really like PetiteKnit, who's a Danish pattern designer (she has patterns in English though). They're SUPER clear and detailed and great for beginners. And congratulations on your first sweater! It looks amazing, way nicer than the first one I made 😂
I am an avid quilter and crochet-er, this makes my heart so happy! I started crocheting when I was 7 and quilting when I was 8, and then wrote my geography thesis on the patterns in quilt and crochet used across Canada, I am thrilled you set out to do this! BTW, that feeling when you finally have a complete project never goes away! It's wonderful! Seeing this and reading the comments genuinely makes my heart so full, there is something so beautiful about making something with such detail and care!
I'm so excited you're making knitting content!! I couldn't wait to watch this video :) I've been knitting since I was a kid (in my 20s now) and I think I know what may have gone wrong with the yarn purchasing and also what you found to be a mistake in the pattern, if you're interested! - Patterns tell you how much yarn to buy in both weight (grams) and length (meters). The length is what matters in terms of having enough yarn to finish the garment. If you bought in terms of weight, you may be getting a thicker but shorter yarn, thus making you need more yarn and the sweater coming out so heavy! If you pay attention to the length instead, you'll have enough yarn (and if you match both the weight and length it'll come out to the pattern's intended thickness) - It seems like you picked up stitches along the top side edge of the front and back to make the sleeves. Depending which direction you started from, you would either then do a knit or purl row first. For example, if you have the outside of the sweater facing up and you pick up stitches from left to right, you would start with a purl row, but if you pick them up from right to left, you would start with a knit row. You most likely picked up stitches the opposite way from what the pattern intended (or maybe had the wrong side of the garment facing up as you did it?). Hopefully I explained that well enough, it's hard to in text! Can't wait to see what you make next! :)
Ah thank you! The first point about length makes SO MUCH SENSE, why didn't I think of that?! I'll be definitely watching out for that in future. The second point also makes sense, but I did like tripple check the pattern and it said right side up, start with a pearl stitch - so I get the mechanics but I still stand by my statement that they were wrong ;) Thanks so much for the thoughtful reply and I can't wait to knit my next thing whilst CONSIDERING LENGTH NOT WEIGHT! Really glad you liked it xxx (I know i've replied to this on patreon but dropping here so anyone else who is curious can see)
I'm 40 and have been A Knitter (capital-k) for nine years (but I have been an avid crafter since forever - I still have a tiny thumb-sized doll I sewed when I was 6). My most recent finish was a jumper with a cabled circular yoke - 3400-ish cables, and around 400 000 stitches (4-ply yarn, 2.75mm needles, in a 50" bust size) so I feel justified in giving you just a couple of notes: 1) you're the one looking at it all day, both when making and wearing. YOU have to like the colour. 2) there's no knitting police. If you want to change something, try something, modify something, DO IT! YOU have to like the result. (That might mean one day you'll want to do some surgery and chop off the bottom and refinish the hem - go for it!) 3) experimenting and finding your own solutions to problems is VITAL to growing in confidence to both make changes and to know what you like to make and wear. The two biggest factors that influence my making (both knitting and sewing) are making the things that I enjoy and like wearing, and knowing the provenance (which is a massive separate thought). Congratulations! 😄 It's a massive achievement, and I hope you love wearing it for a long time.
I heard the lofty goal a minute in! and I cant wait!! this is exactly how I taught myself to knit! My very first garment was a lumpy fair isle jumper, with the most uneven tension ever in colours I would never wear. But i love it dearly
Leena, I loved everything about this - making the sweater, the color, the notes, the mistakes, the corrections, the filming!!! Thank you so much for putting the work and I can't wait to see you rocking this marvelous creation in the drab of winter. 💜
Your knitting content has been fascinating to me because I have been knitting since 2008 and have still not begun my first sweater/jumper, yet you have made your first sweater 6 months into your journey. At this point, I have the yarn that I got help at my local yarn store with picking for a pullover sweater/jumper pattern that I have had in my library long enough for it to have 5 pattern updates over the years! I guess I've been favoring more complex designs for neck wear because I am currently working on a brioche stitch mobius cowl. It's called Briobius on Ravelry if you'd like to take a look. Some things I wanted to say: your tension is EXCELLENT. Also, I think that matching a pattern to that brand's yarn can be a good way to start off since they have done the work to show you more exactly what amount of yarn you need, but substituting yarn is a skill you can learn very easily (I do not know your status of comprehension about gauge, though). No need to settle for Wool and the Gang's drab palette if you feel it will limit your creative energy and passion for the project. I do a lot of yarn substitutions for patterns I pick because I am desperately trying to stash-bust, thus maybe why I am limiting myself to patterns where gauge isn't super important. You are doing a great job!!!!!!
Honestly, I do recommend knitting a swatch of your gauge. So knitting a square of fabric and counting how many stitches per 10cm to match what the pattern intends. Also as someone else mentioned a single ply yarn is much less sustainable as it will pill much fast than a plied yarn or a blown yarn. UA-cam is full of knitting podcasts for recommendatons of patterns and yarns. Also, wool and the gang are not a company whose patterns I would be going with. There are SO many fabulous independent designers of ravelry that have thousands of completed projects that you can look at. Ravelry is a knitters best friend unless the formatting doesn't work for you.
Oh this was such a joy to watch! Im now 52, been knitting since I was 5 years old. I was calling out to you about doing a tension square. But, you know what? You knit a fabulous garment that you will love and cuddle for years to come. Brava!
Congratulations on your first sweater! A tip regarding the lost game of yarn chicken: yarn quantity is given in both weight and meterage/yardage per unit of yarn and meterage is the one that matters the most. It's possible that the yarn you used is slightly heavier and therefore had less meterage per skein, meaning you'd need more skeins than recommended and that your sweater ended up heavier!
I love the way that you knit together (hee hee hoo!) the punk vibes of activism with finding the small, content joys of living. I very much believe that we need to be in touch with both to be part of making a better world!
I think all knitters have at some point realised they haven’t got enough yarn for a project. A few tips: - Check the length of yarn needed for the pattern rather than the weight as different yarns weigh different amounts - Order a bit more than you think you’ll need if it’s borderline between balls or skeins - Also if possible check the dye lot on new balls as sometimes the colour will vary a bit between dye lots
The beautiful thing about learning skills like this is that it's not at all out of the question for you to go back and shorten or lengthen this if you wanted to! It take a bit of confidence to go for it, but you can pick up your stitches along each side and then frog back to that point, then knit your rib or knit it longer before the ribbing. You can make your clothes for you and even if you've 'finished' a project it can still evolve
When I made my first crochet cardigan, I made it of granny squares to control the weight of the piece I was making. But of course that is a style that does not necessarily work with everyone. I am still to tackle a jumper even though I've been crocheting for 20 years (at least). Good on ya.
If you're going to be yarnswapping (and in my decade of knitting I've basically never used a pattern-recommended yarn so I'm an expert), you want to double check the wraps per inch or wpi on a yarn database like ravelry, make sure they're the same, and then buy the pattern-suggested amount of LENGTH (yardage/meterage), NOT WEIGHT. The density of the yarn (called grist) can differ even between yarns of the same size and fiber content, but the yardage you need is just based on the pattern & thickness of the yarn (wpi, not grist). Also, you always always always buy extra. Even if it's the suggested yarn. Don't tempt the fates. Anyways, I love love love your sweater. Such a fun color! Love your ambition!
If you want less heavy or less hot knits, the best things to look out for are low grist yarns (less weight per yardage, often thinner and/or woolen-spun yarns) and potentially blends of wool with linen, silk, or cotton. Alpaca, on the other hand, is heavy. Pure plant fiber yarns really hurt my hands, though, so keep that in mind!
I cannot iterate enough how much I love your knitting journey videos!! I'm also in my 30s and I knitted my first socks just before your first knitting video by chance, and these videos have given me so much joy and sympathy. I hope you make more videos like these! For example, I'd love to see you trying multi-coloured knitting, that is one thing I've been too scared to try myself
Oh, Leena! You talented bean! I love your jumper and would also choose this forbidden colour, even though it probably doesn’t suit anyone’s colouring, according to the Hue Police. I had a little chuckle at your ‘resting knit face’. Great work xxx
I just started knitting as well that it's so cool to see you recently started too. I'm doing just a crop top for now, but I want to do a sweater someday too!
I think the colour people lied to you cause that purple looks fab on you?? Also thoroughly enjoyed this video and enjoyed watching you in all those cosy moments in your corner of the couch. I love this kind of content from you, it feels like hanging with a deranged but very comfortable friend and I'm so here for it.
Congrats on your first jumper, it took me years to try (and now I'm obsessed and learning how to make my own pattern no matter the wool). And super smart to be taking notes, I wish I'd started that earlier! One more piece of unsolicited advice for you, try flicking your right index finger instead of moving your whole hand around the needles (you can find videos on it), you'll be able to knit a lot faster. Happy knitting from Australia 🐨
It is gorgeous! You've inspired me to finally take on my first crochet sweater,even though I've been crocheting for years it's always seemed so intimidating. And for the record I think that color suits you so well, it's like the color of your personality.
*watches a couple of Leena knitting videos* oh fine I’ll finally give knitting a jumper a go then *buys 6 patterns on ravelry* 😂 in my 14 years of knitting (admittedly had about 6 off from actively stitching) I’ve never knit a garment. Hats, socks, gloves, lace shawls, all a doddle. Jumpers look so hard!! You’ve convinced me though.
I’ve been knitting for like 10 years and still haven’t built up the courage to try and make a full sweater and you do it after just 6 months 😂 (and do an amazing job!)
Damn, I have to get into knitting...my late Grandma tried so hard to teach me, but I'm a leftie and she was not, so it never worked out. Also, I was a 7 yo and not very patient. Taught myself to embroider elaborate patches two years ago, so I'm confident, that I can learn how to knit as well 💪 I love videos that give me the itch to try something new 💖
Wow! What a beautifully crafted jumper!! Feeling inspired to try knitting again! Great editing too. particularly loved the public transport knitting footage with the chilled music. 🧶🎶
Holy cow!!! It looks incredible!!! I’ve been knitting for seven years and I’m still too scared to tackle sweaters. Maybe they aren’t so bad after all…. Absolutely well done, it’s absolutely gorgeous
my two favourite genres of youtube video, (leena and knitting podcast) combined into one !!! am i in heaven ?!?! also this colour looks beautiful on you the colour theory people were wrong!!!
You look best in the clothes that make you feel good. To heck with the "color experts". And congratulations on finishing your first sweater! It looks really REALLY good! Mine turned out 6 sizes too big ("the swatch is off, it couldn't make that much difference could it?" LOL) Have a look at the Russian Join method for adding new balls of yarn to a working thread and see if you like it! :) I always struggled with the felted join, personally
If you still have extra yarn you can use it to fix the jumper when the yarn starts to thin out e.g. at the elbow. When I have done it, I have reweaved the spot just like you sew to pieces together seamlessly. You cant really see it, so your jumpers last a lot longer!!
@@leenanorms and when people ask where your gorgeous jumper is from you can be all smug about having made it yourself. So it basically warms from the inside AND outside 😁
Be careful or you will be CONSUMED by the knitting bug. With love, One-that-has-to-have-something-on-the-needles-constantly-to-avoid-serious-withdrawal-symptoms. Ps. Good job on the sweater. 🙌 Edit: There are also patterns to make sweaters in round so you dont need to seam (which you probs know but anyhow). These are easier to unravel if they end up wrong lenght (at least if done from top down). Also handknit garments tend to grow so the jumper might end up closer to the Baabaa jumper lenght after a while. Or you can block it in case you haven't and gently pull it closer to that lenght, there are guides for that also. Blocking will most likely add lenght to sleeves etc also so might wanna check that, your yarn and such before drowning the poor thing. 😊
Love the jumper! The colour is brilliant. Screw the colour analysis, you are glowing with pride and it suits you so well! I am also a novice knitter, everything takes so bloody long; I've not knitted that many things but been doing it for years. 😂 I don't think I've ever bought the yarn that goes with a pattern but I do stick to the weight of yarn it recommends and I always do the recommended test square in pattern for any project that will take months so that I don't get the size wrong. Yet I still have a jumper I made with sleeves that stop half way up my arms. 😂😂
As a very experienced yarn user, order extra yarn. Especially if it's not from a mega brand like red heart. If you run out midway and order more the yarn you get will probably be a different dye lot and can be a noticably different color. It's always safer to order an extra skein or two, depending on the size of your project. Especially if you knit or crochet tighter than average just get extra.
It's so good! Well done you. The colour is opposite of forbidden (allowed??) so screw science. Also those clips of you and your mum knitting together are just precious.
I'm currently doing almost the exact same thing - I have started my first big cardigan with pockets and I'm making it from the aldi variegated yarn that everyone was obsessed with for a hot minute at the start of the year. unfortunately, I read the yarn measurements for a completely different pattern somehow and so ended up 7 balls short. I started panicking because they had already stopped making/selling them and people were selling them on ebay at a 500% markup by the time i realised. my local store had 5 bags left and I panic bought all of them so now I think I've ended up with enough to make 2 cardigans. this wool you've used with this jumper is to be honest my dream yarn and I'm trying so hard to remind myself I am mid-project with now too much yarn so shouldn't be buying any more. the cardigan i'm making is in seed stitch as well so i am just trying to finish by christmas at this rate!
It looks so so cosy! Also, I made tons of mistakes in my first jumper but since making it last year I've basically exclusively only worn this one jumper and I have never since noticed any of the multiple mistakes I made! You probably won't ever notice it again but when you spend 60+ hours staring at something close up all the mistakes feel huge 😅
haha I know what you mean - to everyone else it's probably invisible! Glad you're enjoying yours, warts and all - I know I'll be wearing mine all winter long x
@@leenanorms it has become my second skin almost, in the winter I'm rarely seen without it 🤣 I made mine cropped because of wearing dresses but I do admit I'm envious of the length, as in the winter my hips were freezing 😅 so maybe the long length is for the best! I also saw cool stitches do a jumper alteration which you could do if you ever wanted to shorten it!
oof yeah I had the same predicament when knitting my first cardigan this month 😭 devastating when you keep getting "just one more ball of wool"... makes it all the more worthwhile I guess?? jumper looks lovely!!
Knitting tips: it is better to loosely wind skeins into balls because having it too tight can damage the yarn, especially if it is left in the ball for a long time because of having a break from the project. I normally wind over a couple of my fingers, remove and repeat, to keep the yarn unstressed. Also I now always offer an extra skein or two depending on the size to account for the gauge swatch and potential tragedies. It also means you have some extra yarn you can store for mending that project, and there are lots of free patterns that are intended to use up leftover yarn so it won’t go to waste. Plus if there isn’t a lot of that dye lot and you can’t order more it can just destroy the look of your finished product (I learned this from experience) Plus, you can overdye yarn, so if in a few years you no longer love the purple you can dye it a different colour or try and strip the dye out first and dye it.
If you want to make sure the yarn you’re using will work with the pattern, knitting a gauge swatch will help. In knitting patterns they’ll give you a recommended needle size to get a certain number of rows vertically and stitches horizontally to reach the same measurements as the pattern. If you don’t match the gauge of the pattern, your final product may not match the sweater’s intended measurements. All is not lost though, you can change your needle size (go up if your swatch didn’t have enough rows/stitches or go down a needles size if you had too many). This way you know your stitches match the size of the pattern designers and your garment will fit as the pattern intended. This way you can make most yarns of the same weight work for patterns not knit that aren’t necessarily knit with the yarn you’re working with. There’s also tons of resources on google with more info on searching and what yarn weights are (because the weight of the yarn will effect the fabric you get when you meet a patterns gauge, a fingering weight yarn knit at a bulky gauge would make a very, very loose fabric for example). google is your best friend for this kind of thing, but I hoped this helped!
I'm so proud of you leena the sweater looks stunning and is a very big project! I have been knitting a sweater for over a year now Because I can only knit in the winter and thise are pretty short where I live definitely going to use this as a knitting motivation next winter to finish my sweater instead of starting a million other projects😅
I've learned we have to knit/crochet projects for the following season, not the one we are in. Otherwise by the time we are done, we can't wear it anymore. Also, to be fair most knitted clothes can be made on a machine so they can be cheaper. However crocheted items can not be made by a machine so if you see a cheap crochet item at a big box store, it was made in a sweatshop.....
Please educate me if I'm wrong, but I heard that there's an irish saying, that every knitted/crochet piece needs one imperfection, because otherwise the crafters soul is tangled/trapped in the piece. I always make several imperfections for zero chance of trapped souls in any project. On purpose, of course *cough
Hey the knit will likely stretch a little bit in use and especially if you hang it up, so it will likely end up being closer to the length of your favorite jumper 😊😄
Try knitting a top down jumper in the round next! It’s easier, no construction and seaming, no purling wrong sides. It’s all just knit in one piece basically and because it’s top down you can adjust the length.
I would suggest you to buy a pattern of round yoke top to bottom and use cable needles and hairy yarn, like mohair. Knitting could be much easier than you already did.
❤🎉👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 silly titbit: ripping out a largish part of a knit is called frogging. You just had to frog snog out the sleeve. ☺️
haha yeah it's very fitting with my name - it's almost like, deep down, I subconsciously knew this was my destiny ;)
And its called frogging because you have to "ribbit" (aka rip it) out 😂. A truly excellent pun
You can use any yarn to knit any pattern! You just have to do a bit of maths first. Skeins of yarn are not made equal in their yardage even when they're the same weight. The recommended number of skeins in the pattern will be based on the recommended yarn within the pattern.
Multiply the number of recommended skeins by the yardage in one skein of the recommended yarn to get the total required yardage. Then, choose your substitute yarn (ideally, the same weight of yarn, though you can use combinations, e.g. mohair + fingering as a substitute for a DK). Divide the required yardage by the yardage-per-skein of your chosen yarn, and that tells you roughly how many skeins you will need.
exactly!! it's also possible that you're knitting a lot tighter than the pattern wants you to, meaning it takes more yarn to knit the same amount of fabric. for this reason, patterns give you the 'gauge' you need, or how many rows and stitches are in a 10cm x 10cm square. so it's a good idea to make a swatch before starting a pattern so that it will fit, but also so you're not using up more yarn!
also good to check to make sure the yarn you choose is a similar construction (not sure if this is the right word) to the yarn in pattern- single ply yarn vs. 4 ply vs chainette vs boucle vs whatever else is out there! sometimes it won’t make a huge difference, but sometimes it will! some yarns have more air in them so the weight/meterage will differ, even if it appears to be the same size or weight (dk, worsted, chunky, etc.) of yarn
Knitting is engineering, architecture, and computer science! 👏🏼🕺❣️
I rarely knit with the recommended yarn! Knit gauge swatches, and think about yarn structure, and you can go wild. I’d recommend reading Clara Parkes’ Knitter’s Book of Yarn or something similar to get really comfortable
@@emmajones3170I was also going to come in here and recommend gauge swatches (which feels like reminding someone to eat their vegetables haha) But it really does help, and saves all that time of ripping out and redoing if it fits wrong
Brilliant sweater and video! Some quick tips from a more experienced knitter- a top down in the round sweater (knit all as one piece, no sewing needed) is typically easier than a pieced sweater (although for some reason no one ever tells this to beginners). If its stockinette stitch that means youll only have to do knit stitches, which are preferred by most people to purl stitches, plus you can try it on as you knit it and adjust the length as you please. I would really recommend ravelry to find patterns- petite knit and jessie maed designs are both known as really good designers who write their patterns clearly and are size inclusive! Its slightly tricky, but you can crop the sweater to your preferred length without extra knitting- youll have to unseam the sides to the length you want, then cut a few rows above the rib (placing in a safety line of thread to catch all your stitches before you cut), and cut at the length you want the stockinette portion of the sweater to end (with safety line in these stirxhes as well). Then you can graft the two portions (rib and rest of sweater) together (with a sewn grafting stitch, very simmilar to a kitchener stitch), repeat for the other side, and then sew the side seams together. I would highly recommend practicing on a swatch first though!!! Knitty natty did this with her alpenglow sweater, i believe she has a video showing the whole process! Youre a fantastic knitter though and for a first sweater this was amazing (and the colour analysis people were wrong, purple looks great on you)
I just wanted to suggest top-down-in-the-round sweaters as well. They're so easy to knit and the length is super easy to adjust. My first sweater was a flax light by Tin Can Knits and I also knit the DRK Everyday Sweater by Andrea Mowry. Both of them are very beginner-friendly I think.
Leena! We met at the WPF festival and you commented on my yarn/skein tattoo. As a HUGE knitter, I'm here to tell you you did an amazing job! The "mistakes" & "miscalculations" you made are quite common, even among veteran knitters, so well done! 💕
Fellow novice knitter here! I've been working on a knitted patchwork blanket for well over a year and it's taking me bloody ages! I'm very, very impressed with how many things you've made within your first six months, and how good they look! This sweater? Could have bought it from a store for all I'd know. The craftsmanship is just impeccable, as is the choice of the delicious forbidden purple. You should be very proud!
haha aw thank you - as long as you don't get too close, it looks pretty seamless. Cheering you on for the patchwork blanket, I'd love to do a patchwork bedspread at some point!
Knitting with your mum on the train was sweet, and the music, so meditative. I never knew my grandmother but my childhood was filled with things she knitted for me, and she was my inspiration to learn to knit at the age of 7. There is something so amazing about sharing this ancient craft with women across generations. If you can find a local knitting group, I highly recommend it.
I've always found I like knitting "top down" style sweaters because you can try the garment on as you knit. It makes getting the exact length you want a bit easier. The style you did here is know as a "bottom up" style sweaters. The same nomenclature is used for socks, tanks, etc.
Also, blocking tends to elongate your work a bit--as does just general wear and care, so that's something to keep in mind when you choose your length.
If you want any unsolicited knitting advice for someone who's been knitting for a few years, here goes:
1. When you get another yarn than the one in the pattern, check gauge and yardage (I think it's called, I knit in Swedish 😂) and knit a swatch to make sure everything matches up. You can adjust needle size and amount of yarn to make it work.
2. I much prefer knitting sweaters top down on circular needles, so you knit it all in one piece. I also prefer cropped sweaters, and if you do it like that, you can try it on as you go any it's easier to adjust the length to your liking. Also it's just more fun, imo 😂 I'm sure lots of people make patterns like this, but I really like PetiteKnit, who's a Danish pattern designer (she has patterns in English though). They're SUPER clear and detailed and great for beginners.
And congratulations on your first sweater! It looks amazing, way nicer than the first one I made 😂
I am an avid quilter and crochet-er, this makes my heart so happy! I started crocheting when I was 7 and quilting when I was 8, and then wrote my geography thesis on the patterns in quilt and crochet used across Canada, I am thrilled you set out to do this!
BTW, that feeling when you finally have a complete project never goes away! It's wonderful!
Seeing this and reading the comments genuinely makes my heart so full, there is something so beautiful about making something with such detail and care!
I'm so excited you're making knitting content!! I couldn't wait to watch this video :)
I've been knitting since I was a kid (in my 20s now) and I think I know what may have gone wrong with the yarn purchasing and also what you found to be a mistake in the pattern, if you're interested!
- Patterns tell you how much yarn to buy in both weight (grams) and length (meters). The length is what matters in terms of having enough yarn to finish the garment. If you bought in terms of weight, you may be getting a thicker but shorter yarn, thus making you need more yarn and the sweater coming out so heavy! If you pay attention to the length instead, you'll have enough yarn (and if you match both the weight and length it'll come out to the pattern's intended thickness)
- It seems like you picked up stitches along the top side edge of the front and back to make the sleeves. Depending which direction you started from, you would either then do a knit or purl row first. For example, if you have the outside of the sweater facing up and you pick up stitches from left to right, you would start with a purl row, but if you pick them up from right to left, you would start with a knit row. You most likely picked up stitches the opposite way from what the pattern intended (or maybe had the wrong side of the garment facing up as you did it?). Hopefully I explained that well enough, it's hard to in text!
Can't wait to see what you make next! :)
Ah thank you! The first point about length makes SO MUCH SENSE, why didn't I think of that?! I'll be definitely watching out for that in future. The second point also makes sense, but I did like tripple check the pattern and it said right side up, start with a pearl stitch - so I get the mechanics but I still stand by my statement that they were wrong ;) Thanks so much for the thoughtful reply and I can't wait to knit my next thing whilst CONSIDERING LENGTH NOT WEIGHT! Really glad you liked it xxx (I know i've replied to this on patreon but dropping here so anyone else who is curious can see)
I'm also a novice and no ones has explained that weight/lenght thing for me before!! Thank you!
Watching this in the middle of bitter winter and finding it very cozy to watch you go through your very UK adventures
I'm 40 and have been A Knitter (capital-k) for nine years (but I have been an avid crafter since forever - I still have a tiny thumb-sized doll I sewed when I was 6). My most recent finish was a jumper with a cabled circular yoke - 3400-ish cables, and around 400 000 stitches (4-ply yarn, 2.75mm needles, in a 50" bust size) so I feel justified in giving you just a couple of notes:
1) you're the one looking at it all day, both when making and wearing. YOU have to like the colour.
2) there's no knitting police. If you want to change something, try something, modify something, DO IT! YOU have to like the result. (That might mean one day you'll want to do some surgery and chop off the bottom and refinish the hem - go for it!)
3) experimenting and finding your own solutions to problems is VITAL to growing in confidence to both make changes and to know what you like to make and wear.
The two biggest factors that influence my making (both knitting and sewing) are making the things that I enjoy and like wearing, and knowing the provenance (which is a massive separate thought).
Congratulations! 😄 It's a massive achievement, and I hope you love wearing it for a long time.
I heard the lofty goal a minute in! and I cant wait!! this is exactly how I taught myself to knit! My very first garment was a lumpy fair isle jumper, with the most uneven tension ever in colours I would never wear. But i love it dearly
It is currently 91 degrees outside with like, 90% humidity and I'm just sitting here, missing my sweater collection. Dammit Leena!
haha I know, this could be the most inappropriate time to release this video, but hey ho!
Leena, I loved everything about this - making the sweater, the color, the notes, the mistakes, the corrections, the filming!!! Thank you so much for putting the work and I can't wait to see you rocking this marvelous creation in the drab of winter. 💜
Your knitting content has been fascinating to me because I have been knitting since 2008 and have still not begun my first sweater/jumper, yet you have made your first sweater 6 months into your journey. At this point, I have the yarn that I got help at my local yarn store with picking for a pullover sweater/jumper pattern that I have had in my library long enough for it to have 5 pattern updates over the years! I guess I've been favoring more complex designs for neck wear because I am currently working on a brioche stitch mobius cowl. It's called Briobius on Ravelry if you'd like to take a look.
Some things I wanted to say: your tension is EXCELLENT. Also, I think that matching a pattern to that brand's yarn can be a good way to start off since they have done the work to show you more exactly what amount of yarn you need, but substituting yarn is a skill you can learn very easily (I do not know your status of comprehension about gauge, though). No need to settle for Wool and the Gang's drab palette if you feel it will limit your creative energy and passion for the project. I do a lot of yarn substitutions for patterns I pick because I am desperately trying to stash-bust, thus maybe why I am limiting myself to patterns where gauge isn't super important.
You are doing a great job!!!!!!
Honestly, I do recommend knitting a swatch of your gauge. So knitting a square of fabric and counting how many stitches per 10cm to match what the pattern intends.
Also as someone else mentioned a single ply yarn is much less sustainable as it will pill much fast than a plied yarn or a blown yarn.
UA-cam is full of knitting podcasts for recommendatons of patterns and yarns.
Also, wool and the gang are not a company whose patterns I would be going with. There are SO many fabulous independent designers of ravelry that have thousands of completed projects that you can look at. Ravelry is a knitters best friend unless the formatting doesn't work for you.
Oh this was such a joy to watch! Im now 52, been knitting since I was 5 years old. I was calling out to you about doing a tension square. But, you know what? You knit a fabulous garment that you will love and cuddle for years to come. Brava!
Love the forbiden color on you!
I also really appreciate you showing us all the learning tips
Congratulations on your first sweater! A tip regarding the lost game of yarn chicken: yarn quantity is given in both weight and meterage/yardage per unit of yarn and meterage is the one that matters the most. It's possible that the yarn you used is slightly heavier and therefore had less meterage per skein, meaning you'd need more skeins than recommended and that your sweater ended up heavier!
I love the way that you knit together (hee hee hoo!) the punk vibes of activism with finding the small, content joys of living. I very much believe that we need to be in touch with both to be part of making a better world!
No colors should be forbidden colors for you leena!! You look amazing and I am so proud of your accomplishment!!!
What a gorgeous colour! I love it on you. Well done, a jersey is a huge project!!
I think all knitters have at some point realised they haven’t got enough yarn for a project. A few tips:
- Check the length of yarn needed for the pattern rather than the weight as different yarns weigh different amounts
- Order a bit more than you think you’ll need if it’s borderline between balls or skeins
- Also if possible check the dye lot on new balls as sometimes the colour will vary a bit between dye lots
you are so cool! :) train knitting, resting knit face, ordering more skeins and just -- just glorious! :)
The beautiful thing about learning skills like this is that it's not at all out of the question for you to go back and shorten or lengthen this if you wanted to! It take a bit of confidence to go for it, but you can pick up your stitches along each side and then frog back to that point, then knit your rib or knit it longer before the ribbing. You can make your clothes for you and even if you've 'finished' a project it can still evolve
When I made my first crochet cardigan, I made it of granny squares to control the weight of the piece I was making. But of course that is a style that does not necessarily work with everyone. I am still to tackle a jumper even though I've been crocheting for 20 years (at least). Good on ya.
I literally just purchased a sweater knitting pattern, jumped on UA-cam and saw you just posted your jumper video. Thanks for the inspiration!!!
If you're going to be yarnswapping (and in my decade of knitting I've basically never used a pattern-recommended yarn so I'm an expert), you want to double check the wraps per inch or wpi on a yarn database like ravelry, make sure they're the same, and then buy the pattern-suggested amount of LENGTH (yardage/meterage), NOT WEIGHT. The density of the yarn (called grist) can differ even between yarns of the same size and fiber content, but the yardage you need is just based on the pattern & thickness of the yarn (wpi, not grist).
Also, you always always always buy extra. Even if it's the suggested yarn. Don't tempt the fates.
Anyways, I love love love your sweater. Such a fun color! Love your ambition!
If you want less heavy or less hot knits, the best things to look out for are low grist yarns (less weight per yardage, often thinner and/or woolen-spun yarns) and potentially blends of wool with linen, silk, or cotton. Alpaca, on the other hand, is heavy. Pure plant fiber yarns really hurt my hands, though, so keep that in mind!
I cannot iterate enough how much I love your knitting journey videos!! I'm also in my 30s and I knitted my first socks just before your first knitting video by chance, and these videos have given me so much joy and sympathy. I hope you make more videos like these! For example, I'd love to see you trying multi-coloured knitting, that is one thing I've been too scared to try myself
Somehow I see this little lump hidden by crocheted heart stitched over it
It's fabulous! I've never been able to knit anything myself, although I have tried twice lol. Watching your video is making me want to try again! x
Oh, Leena! You talented bean! I love your jumper and would also choose this forbidden colour, even though it probably doesn’t suit anyone’s colouring, according to the Hue Police. I had a little chuckle at your ‘resting knit face’. Great work xxx
It looks great on you!! Great work! I am amazed! I sew but have failed even the most basic knitting & crochet projects. ❤❤
I just started knitting as well that it's so cool to see you recently started too. I'm doing just a crop top for now, but I want to do a sweater someday too!
I think the colour people lied to you cause that purple looks fab on you?? Also thoroughly enjoyed this video and enjoyed watching you in all those cosy moments in your corner of the couch. I love this kind of content from you, it feels like hanging with a deranged but very comfortable friend and I'm so here for it.
Congrats on your first jumper, it took me years to try (and now I'm obsessed and learning how to make my own pattern no matter the wool). And super smart to be taking notes, I wish I'd started that earlier! One more piece of unsolicited advice for you, try flicking your right index finger instead of moving your whole hand around the needles (you can find videos on it), you'll be able to knit a lot faster. Happy knitting from Australia 🐨
It is gorgeous! You've inspired me to finally take on my first crochet sweater,even though I've been crocheting for years it's always seemed so intimidating.
And for the record I think that color suits you so well, it's like the color of your personality.
this was really soothing to watch. great job on the sweater, it looks great :D
I love your energy, it was very fun to watch your progress
*watches a couple of Leena knitting videos* oh fine I’ll finally give knitting a jumper a go then *buys 6 patterns on ravelry* 😂 in my 14 years of knitting (admittedly had about 6 off from actively stitching) I’ve never knit a garment. Hats, socks, gloves, lace shawls, all a doddle. Jumpers look so hard!! You’ve convinced me though.
I’ve been knitting for like 10 years and still haven’t built up the courage to try and make a full sweater and you do it after just 6 months 😂 (and do an amazing job!)
you and your mom knitting together is too cute🥹 me and my mom do the same thing !!
Damn, I have to get into knitting...my late Grandma tried so hard to teach me, but I'm a leftie and she was not, so it never worked out. Also, I was a 7 yo and not very patient. Taught myself to embroider elaborate patches two years ago, so I'm confident, that I can learn how to knit as well 💪 I love videos that give me the itch to try something new 💖
Wow! What a beautifully crafted jumper!! Feeling inspired to try knitting again! Great editing too. particularly loved the public transport knitting footage with the chilled music. 🧶🎶
Loved your lessons learned at the end - spot on! The more you knit, the more you know!
Wasn't prepared for the footage of you and your mum knitting together making me emotional! Love this. 💖
Love the music and travel montages!! 😍😍
Holy cow!!! It looks incredible!!! I’ve been knitting for seven years and I’m still too scared to tackle sweaters. Maybe they aren’t so bad after all….
Absolutely well done, it’s absolutely gorgeous
my two favourite genres of youtube video, (leena and knitting podcast) combined into one !!! am i in heaven ?!?! also this colour looks beautiful on you the colour theory people were wrong!!!
You look best in the clothes that make you feel good. To heck with the "color experts". And congratulations on finishing your first sweater! It looks really REALLY good! Mine turned out 6 sizes too big ("the swatch is off, it couldn't make that much difference could it?" LOL)
Have a look at the Russian Join method for adding new balls of yarn to a working thread and see if you like it! :) I always struggled with the felted join, personally
If you still have extra yarn you can use it to fix the jumper when the yarn starts to thin out e.g. at the elbow. When I have done it, I have reweaved the spot just like you sew to pieces together seamlessly. You cant really see it, so your jumpers last a lot longer!!
This looks absolutely beautiful! You did a great job and I hope you will enjoy the comfort of this warm jumper (and your hard work) in the winter 😊
haha I know I can't wait to actually reap the benefits ;) !
@@leenanorms and when people ask where your gorgeous jumper is from you can be all smug about having made it yourself. So it basically warms from the inside AND outside 😁
@@ginag6222 haha you can count on me to be VERY smug
Be careful or you will be CONSUMED by the knitting bug. With love, One-that-has-to-have-something-on-the-needles-constantly-to-avoid-serious-withdrawal-symptoms. Ps. Good job on the sweater. 🙌 Edit: There are also patterns to make sweaters in round so you dont need to seam (which you probs know but anyhow). These are easier to unravel if they end up wrong lenght (at least if done from top down). Also handknit garments tend to grow so the jumper might end up closer to the Baabaa jumper lenght after a while. Or you can block it in case you haven't and gently pull it closer to that lenght, there are guides for that also. Blocking will most likely add lenght to sleeves etc also so might wanna check that, your yarn and such before drowning the poor thing. 😊
Great video! I love seeing your knitting journey
Love the jumper! The colour is brilliant. Screw the colour analysis, you are glowing with pride and it suits you so well!
I am also a novice knitter, everything takes so bloody long; I've not knitted that many things but been doing it for years. 😂 I don't think I've ever bought the yarn that goes with a pattern but I do stick to the weight of yarn it recommends and I always do the recommended test square in pattern for any project that will take months so that I don't get the size wrong. Yet I still have a jumper I made with sleeves that stop half way up my arms. 😂😂
This turned out so pretty!
i love the place where it hits you !!
As a very experienced yarn user, order extra yarn. Especially if it's not from a mega brand like red heart. If you run out midway and order more the yarn you get will probably be a different dye lot and can be a noticably different color. It's always safer to order an extra skein or two, depending on the size of your project. Especially if you knit or crochet tighter than average just get extra.
It's so good! Well done you. The colour is opposite of forbidden (allowed??) so screw science. Also those clips of you and your mum knitting together are just precious.
your energy is lovely, im currently knitting the folklore cardigan from taylor swift's merch, wish me luck
I'm currently doing almost the exact same thing - I have started my first big cardigan with pockets and I'm making it from the aldi variegated yarn that everyone was obsessed with for a hot minute at the start of the year. unfortunately, I read the yarn measurements for a completely different pattern somehow and so ended up 7 balls short. I started panicking because they had already stopped making/selling them and people were selling them on ebay at a 500% markup by the time i realised. my local store had 5 bags left and I panic bought all of them so now I think I've ended up with enough to make 2 cardigans. this wool you've used with this jumper is to be honest my dream yarn and I'm trying so hard to remind myself I am mid-project with now too much yarn so shouldn't be buying any more. the cardigan i'm making is in seed stitch as well so i am just trying to finish by christmas at this rate!
Love the knitting content! I got into knitting last year and I'm sold!
French tuck the front of the sweater if you can. It raises the hem and gives the sweater a bit of draping. :)
It looks so so cosy! Also, I made tons of mistakes in my first jumper but since making it last year I've basically exclusively only worn this one jumper and I have never since noticed any of the multiple mistakes I made! You probably won't ever notice it again but when you spend 60+ hours staring at something close up all the mistakes feel huge 😅
haha I know what you mean - to everyone else it's probably invisible! Glad you're enjoying yours, warts and all - I know I'll be wearing mine all winter long x
@@leenanorms it has become my second skin almost, in the winter I'm rarely seen without it 🤣 I made mine cropped because of wearing dresses but I do admit I'm envious of the length, as in the winter my hips were freezing 😅 so maybe the long length is for the best! I also saw cool stitches do a jumper alteration which you could do if you ever wanted to shorten it!
What a magnificent sweater!
oof yeah I had the same predicament when knitting my first cardigan this month 😭 devastating when you keep getting "just one more ball of wool"... makes it all the more worthwhile I guess?? jumper looks lovely!!
haha yes, pain makes the heart grow fonder! I've learned my lesson, I'll always buy an extra ball or two now.
Knitting tips: it is better to loosely wind skeins into balls because having it too tight can damage the yarn, especially if it is left in the ball for a long time because of having a break from the project. I normally wind over a couple of my fingers, remove and repeat, to keep the yarn unstressed.
Also I now always offer an extra skein or two depending on the size to account for the gauge swatch and potential tragedies. It also means you have some extra yarn you can store for mending that project, and there are lots of free patterns that are intended to use up leftover yarn so it won’t go to waste. Plus if there isn’t a lot of that dye lot and you can’t order more it can just destroy the look of your finished product (I learned this from experience)
Plus, you can overdye yarn, so if in a few years you no longer love the purple you can dye it a different colour or try and strip the dye out first and dye it.
Loved this, especially that you didn’t use any time lapses, it felt so relaxing!
Look at you go!!! You are amazing
If you want to make sure the yarn you’re using will work with the pattern, knitting a gauge swatch will help. In knitting patterns they’ll give you a recommended needle size to get a certain number of rows vertically and stitches horizontally to reach the same measurements as the pattern. If you don’t match the gauge of the pattern, your final product may not match the sweater’s intended measurements. All is not lost though, you can change your needle size (go up if your swatch didn’t have enough rows/stitches or go down a needles size if you had too many). This way you know your stitches match the size of the pattern designers and your garment will fit as the pattern intended. This way you can make most yarns of the same weight work for patterns not knit that aren’t necessarily knit with the yarn you’re working with. There’s also tons of resources on google with more info on searching and what yarn weights are (because the weight of the yarn will effect the fabric you get when you meet a patterns gauge, a fingering weight yarn knit at a bulky gauge would make a very, very loose fabric for example). google is your best friend for this kind of thing, but I hoped this helped!
You did a good job and you look GREAT in that color!
I'm so proud of you leena the sweater looks stunning and is a very big project!
I have been knitting a sweater for over a year now Because I can only knit in the winter and thise are pretty short where I live definitely going to use this as a knitting motivation next winter to finish my sweater instead of starting a million other projects😅
That purple on you is amazing 💟 colour people were wrong!!!
Living for these knitting updates!!
The little clip in the St Andrews harbour😍
YOur comment on how you weren't able to knit 6 months ago made me want to start tbh. You came so far in such a short time!?
I've learned we have to knit/crochet projects for the following season, not the one we are in. Otherwise by the time we are done, we can't wear it anymore.
Also, to be fair most knitted clothes can be made on a machine so they can be cheaper. However crocheted items can not be made by a machine so if you see a cheap crochet item at a big box store, it was made in a sweatshop.....
This was delightful, Leena.
Aw thank you!
I love the colour and I think it looks great on you! We will not submit to the whims of colour theory!
Yay! Would love to see more knitting content (as a knitter). Also noticed your rings which are lovely - do you mind me asking where they’re from?
That's a stunning jumper. I want to learn to knit now too :). Thanks for sharing your journey!
that color bring tears to my eyes. I would so ask you where you bought it because it's gorgeous
I’ve put it all in the description :)
Loved every second of this. You are BLOODY inspiring, hello Skilled Girls Summmmeerrr
Please educate me if I'm wrong, but I heard that there's an irish saying, that every knitted/crochet piece needs one imperfection, because otherwise the crafters soul is tangled/trapped in the piece.
I always make several imperfections for zero chance of trapped souls in any project. On purpose, of course *cough
This was the most satisfying video ever!! I loved everything about it ❤
Color analysis is fake 'cause LOOK AT YOU SO HAPPY WITH THAT JUMPER!
So wholesome to watch someone building a thing they like
Hey the knit will likely stretch a little bit in use and especially if you hang it up, so it will likely end up being closer to the length of your favorite jumper 😊😄
Looove the jumper! The colour is gorgeous (on you and in general) 😍
Its lovely!! you've become so good at knitting!! 😍
Well done!
"I've got my frozen yogurt snack, I've got my green party talk on proportional representation" 😂
Leena knitting in Fife, three of my favourite things!
Thanks for sharing your journey! I love this!!
Wow! It looks amazing!
this was fabulous to watch. as someone who can’t knit it makes me want to try
Try knitting a top down jumper in the round next! It’s easier, no construction and seaming, no purling wrong sides. It’s all just knit in one piece basically and because it’s top down you can adjust the length.
One advantage of it being heavy is it'll be like wearing a weighted blanket! Think of the security you'll feel
I would suggest you to buy a pattern of round yoke top to bottom and use cable needles and hairy yarn, like mohair. Knitting could be much easier than you already did.
wow you are just so impressive