sweater fear!

XbelovedXoneX · 09-03-2006, 08:00 AM

I have huge aspirations to knit my first sweater EVER for my husband for christmas. In my mind I envisioned a perfect sweater being a little baggy, with raglan shaping sleeves, and a cable running up the middle for interest. So when I saw the Big Sack Sweater in SnB I thought it would be perfect for my husband with a few mods!

Then I realized I had some dilemmas...First, I thought of knitting it in elann's alpaca yarn, but that's worseted and the patterns calls for chunky... and I don't want to double strand! Next, I realized it's not worked in the round like I thought. Is there anyways to mod this to make it knit in the round?? Since I discovered knitting in the round, I haven't knit stockinette flat since!

I fear I may have gotten in over my head!

suzeeq · 09-03-2006, 01:13 PM

Yes, you can still use this pattern in a worsted yarn knit in the round.

Figure out what your gauge is - 4 stitches/inch maybe - and figure out how big around your husband is. Multiply your sts/inch times his inches and that tells you how many stitches it will be. If you want it really baggy, you add a couple more inches. Say you want it to measure 40 inches when done, then times my hypothetical 4 sts/in, that's 160 sts. Look at the pattern to see if there's a size that has you cast on more or less 80 sts for the back or front. If there is, use that size for any shaping, just remembering that the gauge is different and you'll have to figure out where their sts and rows per inch varies from yours.

hth

sue

Ingrid · 09-03-2006, 01:48 PM

This formula is one you can use to create your own pattern with your gauge and size. I just finished a sweater using this and it worked out great.

If you want to add a cable to the front, you'll have to add a few extra stitches where the cable goes--how many depends on the width of the cable--and then decrease when the cable ends. That's not a huge deal though.

XbelovedXoneX · 09-03-2006, 03:39 PM

thanks both of you!

Also, since I hate having to reorder yarn(while praying they still have the same dyelot), can anyone guesstimate how many 109 yds balls of worsted weight I would need? I estimated I'd need 9 balls of bulky weight at 142 yds... oh this is so much math for my brain!

Ingrid · 09-03-2006, 03:58 PM

Assuming that chunky yarn is 3 st per inch, and you need 1278 yards of it, according to a chart I have, you'd need about 1900 yards at 4 st/inch and 2400 yds at 5 st/in.