Knitting A Baby Sweater – Part Two (by Robyn Devine)

Here we go with the second half of our Knitting A Baby Sweater post.  Hopefully you’ve completed part one and you’re ready to finish your sweater. 

Now that you’ve got the yoke of your sweater done you’re ready to start working on the sleeves and the lower body.  As tricky as some of these instructions may seem I promise they’ll go just as fast as the yoke part of the sweater.

First up is dividing for the sleeves and body. What I love about a pattern like this is that you knit the sleeves in the midst of knitting the body so there’s truly no seaming to be done. According to the directions you knit through the first 22 stitches and then put them on a spare needle, a stitch holder or some yarn. For this I just leave the stitches on the needle.  Once you start working on the sleeve it’s pretty clear which stitches are which and then you don’t have to futz with any extra tools.

Follow the directions for the sleeve: knit a row, purl a row, continue along until you decrease.  You already know how to do this thanks to the first half of the sweater!   Then knit seven rows in stockinette stitch. Bind off to the last stitch leaving the loop free for seaming up the sleeve.

It should look something like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now fold the sleeve in half, as seen in the photo below, with the right sides together. You’ll be grabbing a crochet hook (I use size “I” for this) to slip stitch up the sleeve.  To slip stitch in crochet, insert your hook through one stitch on either side of the sleeve and wrap the yarn around the crochet hook, from back to front.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pull the hook (with the yarn wrapped around it) through all three stitches you now have on your needle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and you’ve got yourself a slipped stitch!

Continue like this all the way down the side of the sleeve, until you come to the armpit of the sleeve. You should have one stitch left on the crochet hook and see a bit of space between the needles and where the arm should join the sweater.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To get rid of what will end up being holes in the armpits I simply pick up a few stitches before I move on.  This isn’t in the instructions but it helps get rid of those holes that will otherwise show up and we’ll get rid of those extra stitches later on! 

To pick up stitches, simply insert your right needle into a free spot between it and the sleeve. Do this twice and then slip the stitch off the crochet hook and onto the right needle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pick up two more stitches between the sleeve and the left needle (using the right needle again) and then knit across the back stitches. Repeat this same “sleeve making process” for the other sleeve and finish knitting across the row.

The rest of the sweater is easy! You simply knit a row, then purl a row, until the sweater is long enough that you want to add the bottom edge on. If you want to get rid of those four extra stitches under the arms simply knit two together four times around each armpit on your first knitting row after adding the sleeves.

The bottom edge of the sweater is simply a few more rows of garter stitch which should seem like a cake walk compared to all the new stitches you’ve now mastered.   All that’s left is to weave in the ends and you’ve got yourself a great new baby sweater!

Now if you’re anything like me you’ve already gotten addicted to it and you’re about to cast on another!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t forget to make one or two and donate them to your local hospital – the babies will thank you!  You can also send your sweater to the Knit for Needs charity and Meridith will make sure it gets to a baby that needs a warm sweater.

Knitting A Baby Sweater – Part One (by Robyn Devine)

Ok, you’ve been knitting for a bit now.  So far you have tackled making scarves and dish cloths.   You’re ready to move onto something a bit more challenging. You’re not sure about hats.  You know someone who is going to have a baby soon.  You’re thinking, ”Why not try to knit a baby sweater”?

Wait a minute.  Let’s give a baby sweater a little more thought.  Maybe you’re thinking a baby sweater would be too hard. Don’t let the thought of sleeves get you nervous.  Baby sweaters can be the easiest thing to knit. With a good pattern like the Five-Hour Baby Sweater to start you off right you’ll do fine.  You shouldn’t let your beginning knitter status sway you away from attempting a baby sweater.

That’s not to say there won’t be a few tricks which is why I’m here to help you out! The Five Hour Baby Sweater For Boys is one of my favorite items to knit.  I’ve been taking pictures and devising a tutorial to get you through the tricky parts.  Grab some size 10 needles and some worsted weight yarn and let’s get you knitting baby sweaters!

Step one: The cast on.  While this part of the project is something you may already have down, I wanted to take some time to talk about various cast on methods. The pattern in question calls for a knitted cast on. In this, you basically knit each stitch onto the needles.

For a sweater I like to use a long-tail cast on method (see the video for instructions if you need to here). It gives a firmer edge and as this is the edge closest to the baby’s face you’ll want to be sure it looks well constructed.

  

 

 

Step two: Work the collar.  This is the easiest part of the sweater – just a few rows of garter stitch (knitting every row).  Your sweater is starting to take shape. Are you getting excited?! Increases are next!

 

Step three: Increases for the yoke.  This tends to be where people start to freak out a bit. Beginner knitters may not know how to increase by knitting into both the front and the back of a stitch.  I’ve taken a few pictures to help explain it.

Photo one shows the needle ready to knit into the front of the stitch.  This is done like a regular knit stitch.  Before you drop the left-hand stitch off the needle pull your right-hand needle back into the stitch as shown in photo two. Then knit that stitch as well and you’ve increased one!  Continue following the pattern increasing like this through the five sets of yoke increases. You’re almost done with the top half of the sweater.

 

 Step four: Final increases.  Once those five sets of increases are done you’ve got just a few more rows to go before you can divide for the sleeves. First you need to add in your stitch markers and this row gets a bit tricky. The pattern has you both adding stitch markers and adding in a large set of increases at the same time.  Don’t get nervous – you can do it!

For this set of increases you’ll be using the *M1* increase in which you make one stitch. Instead of increasing into an already-established stitch, you’ll be making a stitch in between two already established stitches. The following photos illustrate how.

For each place you see a M1 note in the pattern simply make a loop on your right finger and transfer it to the right needle. Easy-peasy and you’ve made a stitch! Continue following the pattern adding stitch markers and making stitches through the row.

Finally, you’ll have to add a few more rows of *make one,  front and back* increases to finish off the yoke.  Since you’ve had so much practice at it you should fly right through it.

 

 Now step back and enjoy your work – you’ve officially knit half a baby sweater!

Up next in Part Two – Dividing for the arms, stitching those arms up (seems harder than it is!) and finishing off your sweater!

 

Robyn is a 30-something newlywed who has focused her life on craft, sustainability, and changing the planet for good. Having been a crafter most of her life, it wasn’t until recently she discovered she could meld her love of handmades with her passion to help the world become a better place for all humans, instead of a place that seemed to work only for a privileged few.

She divides her free time between knitting and scrapbooking most days, is in a constant battle with all the clutter threatening to take over her house, and truly believes that with a bit of compassion, some wool, and a slice of pizza, the world could be a happier place for all!
 
Visit Robyn’s blog: http://robyndevine.typepad.com