I HATE sewing sweater seams!Even though I am a decent seamstress of both hand and machine, I still do not like to line up and sew seams in sweaters. Especially when the yarn wants to give me problems in creating a neat and professional looking seam.
And then there is the frustration of all those hours upon hours of joyful knitting to find out after you seam up dreadful sides and sleeves that your sweater does not fit you. It is either too small, too big, too short or too long. Or worse — all of it!
These problems caused me to delve into the world of seamless sweaters and eventually knitting from the top down.
I first tried knitting from the bottom up. The pattern I used seemed easy enough, except when I reached the part where you attach the sleeves the instructions were left out. Well, I figured it out and went on to knit several sweaters this way. (Check out my “Fall Leaf Raking” and “A Summer Picnic” sweaters.)
Then one day while knitting with my Thursday knit group one gal was knitting this incredible cable sweater from the top down! How wonderful!
I found a basic pattern with all the calculations and I was off knitting my first top down sweater. I loved it. Since that first experiment, I have found ways to improve the increases and ease up on all those mind boggling calculations!
A phrase I put in every top down pattern really tells the story:
Now comes the beauty of knitting from the top down! The size of your sweater depends on how long you continue these increase rounds. (Change to larger circulars when needed.) No need to worry about your measurement being correct—you can try your sweater on to see how long your increases need to be! Knit on an extra circular needle or place your stitches on a piece or waste yarn long enough to give you plenty of ease. Put the sweater on and check! You can modify and check to see if you need more or less sts, more or less rows before the underarm join.
It is an amazing phenomena! Wala! Your sweater fits you!
A top down sweater pattern can accommodate all body types. It will fit your body as you increase the stitches and rows.
I still recommend that you measure a favorite sweater or shirt to let you know the size you want. But, the amazing thing is that you can stop your increases to make the sleeves smaller in circumferences or continue them to make them larger. You can stop knitting your sweater several inches before the finished body length and knit your sleeves. Then return to the main sweater to knit the body as long as you want or to stop when you run out of yarn. Think of it! No running out of yarn with 1 inch to go on a sleeve again!
Yes, it is a very exciting concept. You can have a great fitting sweater every time! Many times I design a top down sweater with a style idea and/or a great pattern stitch. Sometimes the design is all about creating stitch patterns that grow with the increases. Then there are the designs to find new ways to approach the top down concept—especially about sleeves.
My “Blue Skies” sweater was my first endeavor to a sleeve technique that is very exciting. I don’t know if anyone else has knitted this way. It is one technique I plan on continuing to experiment with. Look for it in my sleeveless designs. I hope you discover the wonderful world of knitting from the top down and fill your sweater chest with countless favorites!