Archive of Thread: My knitting journey to a flawless sweater or how knititnow changed my knittinglife Back

2 years ago
I have to share this:
Knitting long time with sticks,  stumbled over a bond indicredible sweater machine,  avansering too fast in hardware,  but not in skills.just fooling around,  been creative,  but failing a lot.
Now i found my to go pattern,  having suksess.
The first Aqua was a long sweater in selfstriping yarn,  gave me a nice sweater, possibilities to tweak a pattern to perfection. Here the neckline was a little wide,  the shoulders,  too. The length perfect,  and i grew in finishing.
The next a dress in tuc stitch. Here i got control over the punchcard patterning. When not able to decide which side to use for public side,  i avanced in finishing,  and got creative,  so now i can wear it both sides. It fits.
Next a thread lace short sweater. For this pattern i had to use my silver 840 with DAK. And i learned to take my time,  to conquor the electronics and the integrative knitting with DAK,  
At last i copied a sweater from a foto,  using my gauge,  my stitch patterns,  planning ahead (yes,  i did that,  too.) knitting with the lace carriage that knits in the same pass,  inclusive hand manipulating and single motiv automatic lace-knitting .
It turned out perfect. I am so proud.
How did i come so far?


A solid background as knitter helped. When discovering the machine knitting world,  i wanted to try EVERYTHING.
To try technics and fooling around without a plan showed possibilities and gave great ideas,  but it often gave  frustration,  too. To try a technik and make a swatch does not mean you master the patterning or technic.
I made some other and easier projects between my sweaters,  that gave me some skills,  too.
I am still  struggeling with neckband finishing,  and how to hang the pieces for that.( Left/right side) I  am making progress with the automatic patterning on both machines. I found my to go yarn and my sweater pattern,  that fits.
For the last sweater the shaping was in plein knitted areas,  that made knitting a little bit easier. I skipped the shoulder shaping,  because lace is a little bit more forgiving.

Besides,  i learned the hard way,  that if you do the math about yarn needed, then do it right. I dobled up a piece,so i had to shorten the sweater some cm.  i thought i might run short after using all swatches though.
When knitting pieces i had more than 100 g left. So i turned the work,  knitted the former shortened length and redid/did the hem upside down. There is the creativity part again.
I realised nowneed bustshaping for the next one,  espessially if it is a short one.

I could have had an easier journey,  by going slowly and with a plan like the learning path, but my approach gives me success at last,  too. The game changer was to know my gauge and having a pattern i knew that fits. The technic reference cards (at the tool page) made it possible to record and really understand patterning. These i refer to a lot.
I also know the limits around my machines,  and to avoid that. I knit by punchcard when i can for simplicity,  but i start to get control over the electronics.
My journey has just begun.

I even got a dear friend by the knit it now platform. Meeting in person inclusive.

2 years ago
So pleased for you Bettina 😊😊