Finally got started on the project!

First up is the back piece section of the sweater, so let me record some notes on my progress here.

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Twisted Rib

The section starts with a simple twisted rib (w/ the smaller needles) for the bottom boundary of the sweater:

This stitch pattern is super easy as it’s just like the normal 1×1 ribbing, done by alternating between K (knit) and P (purl) for RS (right side). The “twisted” part comes from working the K’s tbl (through the back loop), forcing those stitches to twist, making the stitches tighter and the resultant ribbing lines thinner as well. Then on the way back on WS (wrong side), just K the K’s and P the P’s as usual, but working the P’s tbl.

The stitch pattern is the following 2 rows alternated (odd number of sts):

• Row 1 (RS): *k1 tbl, p1, rep from * to last st. k1 tbl
• Row 2 (WS): *p1 tbl, k1, rep from * to last st. p1 tbl

Sadly, ribbing always reminds me of my sad life circumstance as a western throwing knitter because of all the extra hand motions just to switch the yarn between front and back 😞.

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Last Row Increase

On the last row of the twisted ribbing, the pattern calls for an evenly spaced increase of 29 sts interspersed among the existing 115 sts. Then we switch to the larger needles for the rest of the piece.

I’ve done plenty of increases before, but I know that the specific increase that I choose might leave eyelets or holes which would look bad on the final product. So I took the opportunity to sit down and look into different kinds of increases and learn the pros and cons for each.

I read through this guide from Nimble Needles, and I would HIGHLY recommend that anyone else refer to this page to learn about different kinds of increases.

Here’s what the piece looked like after knitting a bit past the increase row:

Look between the ribbing and the cable section… the increase is SO INVISIBLE 🤩

The increase that I went with was a KLL (knit left loop) increase to make it as invisible as possible. Check this tutorial from the previous site for a tutorial. This was definitely better than increasing by knitting the same stitch twice, using a yarn-over, picking up the strand in-between, or casting on mid-row. Those would all leave some noticeable amount of hole or gap.

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What’s Next?

Next up is the main section of the back piece, which is pretty much just a ton of cables _{(my favorite!!)}

Today, I announce the first project for my blog: an Aran Sweater!

It has definitely been some time since I dedicated myself to a large personal project! I’ve worked on some smaller items recently, but none required all that much thought, time, or yarn. And I’ve especially not made anything lately just for myself. Finally I can stop flaking out of my knitting group meet-ups and have a consistent WIP (work in progress) to bring to the party 😋

The last large project of mine that I was really proud of would probably be this fancy cable-knit cardigan:

That’s a story/post for another time! 😉

I decided on an Aran sweater for a few reasons:

• CABLES… SO MANY CABLES (!!!) – my favorite, of course 😊
• The (not-so-)subliminal messages were piling up. I’ve been seeing them all over the place, both IRL and in media (e.g. Chris Evans in Knives Out). So I finally looked into what all these fashionable people were wearing and decided that I must make it mine!!
• This design includes raglan-style sleeves, which I haven’t done yet
• Perhaps I can learn from this pattern and eventually design my own complicated cable sweater
• I could even sell those eventually 💵💁‍♂️💵
• My cardigan is getting lonely in the closet and needs another cabley buddy

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Pattern

I’m using this pattern from Ravelry: Honeycomb Aran by Gayle Bunn

The central “honeycomb” pattern formed by the interwoven 8-strand cable is mostly what got me. I did something similar on a sweater for my dog _{(another future post!!)} and really enjoyed how that one turned out. In my mind, I wouldn’t label this as a “honeycomb” per se, but I suppose the term just refers to any cable pattern forming a lattice similar to that of a honeycomb.

I had also looked at a few other places that people had suggested to me:

• Free Aran Pattern Archive
  • A website with a bunch of free vintage Aran patterns that seem to be from old knitting mags (?)
  • Decided against these because the scanned pages were a bit fuzzy, and I didn’t want to get stuck on an unreadable part or an instruction/notation that wasn’t fully explained
• Sari Nordlund’s designs on Ravelry
  • Many great designs here, but nothing particularly spoke to me for whatever reason
  • Good place to look into if I eventually want to make another one though
• Inis Aran by Donna Estin on Knit Picks
  • I might do this one in the future, if I’m looking for a more bulky, cozy project
  • But also it costs money and I’m cheap 🤷‍♂️

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Yarn

For this project, I went with the pattern’s suggested yarn: Patons Classic 100% Wool Worsted Yarn, Aran

I considered colors other than the classic Aran off-white, but honestly I think the off-white looks best. Any darker shade like olive or navy, or even lighter versions of those, might end up making the cables’ complexity visually less noticeable. Plus, it’s plain enough that it wouldn’t constrain the rest of a potential outfit to a particular color scheme.

While looking around at other Ravelry users’ projects of this pattern, I came across these:

• Fishermen’s Wool Yarn by Lion Brand
• Cotton Hemp Yarn by Lion Brand

These both look pretty good, but I’m not feeling adventurous enough to mess with the suggested yarn 🙃. I also don’t know anything about hemp yarn, so no clue if that’s a good sweater material. (Note to self: Look into hemp yarn).

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Needles

The pattern calls for circulars, so I’ll be using my Caspian Interchangeable Circular Needle Set from Knit Picks

Smaller needles (US 6) for the ribbing, and larger (US 8) for everything else.

This product deserves a whole review post of its own _(someday…).

Having been burned by badly-manufactured and flimsy interchangeable circulars in the past, I really cannot say enough about how much I love this one from Knit Picks.

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Gauge and Sizing

At the moment, my chest size is around 37″, which would lead me to following the XS/S instructions. However, since I’m currently strength-training and weight-lifting to gain weight (fine fine, get angry at me , I don’t care 😒), I decided that the instructions for size M would make more sense.

Now, I’m not usually the type to fuss over gauge, but in this case I figure it’s worth it to avoid finding out later that the sizing was all wrong from the start. The pattern specifies: 19 sts by 25 rows = 4″.

Gauge looks good! – No adjustments needed, luckily.

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To Be Continued…

I’ll be posting progress updates as I work through the project!

You can follow along with the project using the tags on the post!