The Creative Process

I have got a good start on a new cardigan. It is Merino Wool, and the design is with cables, knit in the round until the underarm, then round knit sleeves, then join the lot together and continue for a bit up the yoke. I will stop there, and make a directional change and knit the yoke sideways around the shoulders, stitch it to the body, then pick up the top edge and finish the ribbed neckline... can you picture it?

Now can you?

The bottom round is about 9 inches as you can see here...

the cable is a chain link fence, quite easy to repeat and a pleasing texture. I think I can make it go on the sleeves too.

How do you create a pattern from an idea? First you knit a swatch in the cable pattern to get an accurate gauge. Then you do the math (I know, this part hurts the brain, but it is the key to making it fit). You take the finished sweater chest measurement and multiply the number of stitches per inch by the inches of chest! This is your number of stitches around the body of the sweater. The ribbing will be a few stitches less, with an increase as you change to your pattern stitch. The sleeves are measured and mathed the same way, and I will use the gauge to calculate the sideways band (not worked out fully yet, but I will likely measure the actual piece I have knit and figure how many inches I need to get me to the neckline.... more math).

But the end result will be a posted pattern that you can just print out and knit yourself (all math done for you), so stay tuned.