Learning to Knit: My First Jumper

I shared a few months ago that I have started knitting and I blogged this hat that I made. I am really enjoying supplementing my sewing with a new craft. It is so nice being able to pick up my knitting when I am a bit too tired to sew. I don’t know about you but since the start of the darker evenings I am not always super motivated to have the bright lights on so that I can see to sew. With knitting, I can curl up with just the lamps on and keep cosy adding a few more rows onto my knitting project.

After my success of the hat I wanted a bigger project, I am totally in love with the Wool and the Gang and We are Knitters kits but despite their pretty frequent sales they are still rather pricey! I do think a lot of their designs do look really beginner friendly though so I went in search of a jumper pattern that looked like something from them – chunky, modern, but easy to do. I found this pattern on Hobbycraft by chance when they sent me one of their newsletters (yes email marketing totally works on me!) and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the digital pattern was only £2 and I was confident that it was within my skillset to be able to complete.

I bought the pattern but their recommended yarn was 100% acrylic which isn’t really my jam. I know there are problematic areas with any manufacturing process so I am not under any illusions that by buying wool I am saving the planet but at least I won’t sweat in it, which means less washing and when a wool jumper is washed at least it isn’t releasing microplastics into the water system. I decided to go shopping for a wool alternative to the Hobbycraft yarn and settled on some Sublime Lola 100% merino which was massively reduced in the Minerva Crafts Clearance sale. It is super soft and smells like wool and what’s crazy is it was actually cheaper than the Acrylic alternative. Shop around folks!

The pattern was easy to follow, all knitted flat in reverse stockinette stitch with this one cable down the front. This was my first experience knitting cables and I found it surprisingly easy! If you are a beginner knitter thinking about giving cables a go – I say do it! You definitely can! I made the medium size with the size small length as I wanted a cropped jumper to wear with all my high waisted skirts – the only real knitwear ‘hole’ I had in my wardrobe. I really only started making skirts at the beginning of this year so as the temperatures started to drop it became apparent that if I wanted to continue wearing those skirts I would need a cropped jumper to go with them. All my long baggy jumpers I wear with jeans are almost as long as the skirts and are not a good look!

I am sorry this has been a knitting post and I hope it isn’t boring you all too much! I found this jumper really quick to make so I have decided to move away from super chunky yarn and big needles otherwise I am going to have a new knitted garment every week – even if I am making Christmas presents that seems excessive so I am going to go smaller yarn next time in the hope that it slows my output.

I’ve got my favourite two garments I’ve sewn this year heading to the blog over the next two weeks so if you are sad not to see any sewing from me this week, I can promise I’ve got some GOOD’UNS coming before the end of the year!