Chapter 14

Anatomy of a Sweater Pattern

In This Chapter

Perusing a photo for important details

Making your way through a knitting pattern

Sweater patterns tell you how to make the individual pieces of a sweater and how to put them together. Whether from a book, magazine, or leaflet, sweater patterns are set up in a predictable way. You find information about sizes, materials needed, gauge, and any special pattern stitches or abbreviations listed before the actual piece-by-piece instructions. This chapter runs you through the kinds of information you’ll find in a typical sweater pattern.

You don’t have to go deep into a pattern before you see things like “sl 1, k1, psso,” “yb,” and “ssk” — common abbreviations to knitters. If they look undecipherable to you, skip back to Chapter 3 where these and others are conveniently listed and explained.

Picture This: Studying the Garment Photo

When you sit down with a new sweater pattern — or better yet, when you’re choosing one — begin by paying close attention to the picture of the sweater you want to knit. This step may seem obvious, but studying the photograph or drawing and noting the details will clarify parts of the instructions that may otherwise be confusing. Study the picture of your sweater and answer these questions:

Is it a pullover or a cardigan?

How is it constructed? Can you tell from the picture whether the sweater is designed with a drop shoulder or a set-in sleeve, two common sleeve styles?

Does the shoulder slope, or is it worked straight across? (If you can’t tell from the photo, check the schematic. The shoulder design will be clear in the little line drawing that often comes with the instructions.)

Is the body of the sweater shaped in any way, or is it a simple rectangle?

Is the sweater worked primarily in stockinette stitch? If other pattern stitches are used, can you identify them? Are they knit-and-purl patterns, cables, or something else?

Is there a color pattern? If so, is it an allover pattern, or is it “placed” along the hem or across the yoke? Does it look like a repeating pattern to knit by using the Fair Isle technique, or is it a pattern with larger color areas to knit in the intarsia method? (See Chapter 13 for details about these methods.)

Is there ribbing at the bottom edges, or does the sweater begin some other way?

Does it have a round neckline or a V-neck? Is it finished with a ribbed neckband? A collar? A crocheted edge?

If the sweater is pictured on a model, how’s the fit? Does the collar lie properly around the neck? Does the sleeve cap pull? If the sweater doesn’t fit the model well, chances are that it won’t look good on you. (Then again, it just might.)

The point of all these questions? Know thy sweater.

The Pattern at a Glance

Looking at a picture of the knitted garment can tell you only so much about how the sweater is constructed. For the nitty-gritty detail, you need to read the pattern — preferably before you begin.

Knowing as much as you can about your sweater upfront helps you anticipate the steps in the instructions and forestall many a mistake. If you find that something in the instructions is confusing in the first read through, don’t be alarmed; it may make sense by the time you get to that point in the instructions with needles and yarn in hand.

The following sections walk you through the various bits of info a typical sweater pattern contains.

How hard is “easy”? Level of difficulty

Many patterns tell you right away the level of difficulty the pattern writer has assigned to it. Following are the categories:

A beginner sweater uses basic stitches (knits and purls) and involves minimal shaping and simple finishing.

An intermediate project uses more challenging stitch patterns and/or shaping and finishing.

An experienced or expert pattern may require all your powers of concentration. It will frequently feature tricky pattern or color work, and it may involve complicated shaping or construction details. Work on it only when you’re well rested.

It’s always a good idea to have more than one project going at a time. We recommend that you have something portable and rather brainless to give you a feeling of accomplishment and to keep your hands going while you watch TV or wait for a Web site to load and another more challenging project to work on when you have the time and quiet to concentrate on it.

How big is “big”? Knitted measurements

Most patterns begin by listing the sizes given in the instructions. Older patterns may list them in numbered chest sizes — for example, 38 (40, 42, 44, 46). Most current patterns give sizes in the designations small (medium, large), or some combination of the two. Be sure you know your measurements before choosing the size to knit!

This is the first place you see parentheses in a knitting pattern, and it pays to notice where the size you want to make is located: before or inside the parentheses. Every time a number or measurement is given in the pattern, the one for your size will be in the same place in relation to the parentheses. For example, if the pattern is written for small, medium, and large sizes — presented “small (medium, large)” — and you’re making a small, the numbers for your size will always be written first — outside the parentheses. If you’re making a large, your numbers will always be last in the parentheses.

Before you start knitting, take the time to circle all the instructions in your size throughout the entire pattern. If you use a pencil, then you can erase the circles when finished so you can knit the pattern in a different size without confusion.

Sweater patterns generally tell you what the finished garment should measure when laid out on a flat surface. Sometimes only the chest/bust width is given. Other times, you also find measurements for overall length, sleeve length, and/or upper arm circumference. Use this info to help you determine what size to knit.

For more information about choosing which size to make, see Chapter 15.

Materials

The pattern tells you what materials and equipment you need to make your sweater. In the “Materials” section of the pattern, you can find the following:

The brand and specific name of the yarn used: It gives the fiber content of the yarn, the weight and often the number of yards per skein, the color number and name of the yarn, and the number of skeins or balls required for the sweater. If the sweater hasn’t been designed for a specific yarn company and isn’t a vehicle for selling a particular brand, the pattern may simply call for yarn in a specific weight — for example, worsted-weight (see Chapter 2 for more on different yarn weights).

The size and type of needles you need: Often, needles in two sizes are listed — the smaller for cuffs and bottom borders and the larger for the body of the sweater. If the pattern uses double-pointed or a circular needle (say for a neckband or collar), or if the entire sweater is worked in the round, the pattern tells you which size needle(s) to use and in what length.

Following the particular needles specified, you always see the phrase, “or size to obtain gauge.” This phrase typically appears in full capitalization or in italics. Why? Because gauge matters. Head to Chapter 3 for everything you need to know about gauge and why it’s so important.

Any special equipment or gadgets required: Constructing some sweaters requires special tools — for example, a cable needle, stitch markers, stitch holders, and so on. These tools are listed after the needles.

Buttons or other finishing materials: If the sweater is a cardigan, the number and size of the buttons called for are listed. If pompoms, embroidery, or other embellishments are in order, the materials needed to make them are listed here.

Check this list and make sure that you have what you need when you’re purchasing yarn and needles for a project. You don’t want to find yourself unable to continue working on your project after the stores have closed because you don’t have a particular tool in your supply box.

Gauge

In the “Gauge” section of the pattern, you find a formula that reads something like this:

14 sts and 21 rows to 4" (10 cm) over St st, using larger needles.

This is the gauge formula. It tells you how many stitches and rows are in a 4-inch square of the sweater fabric (in this case, stockinette stitch). If you want to make a sweater that corresponds to the measurements given, you must duplicate this gauge. (We can’t say it enough!) You can find more information on gauge in Chapter 3.

Special pattern stitches

If your sweater has any special pattern stitches or instructions, they may be listed and explained separately and not given again in the body of the instructions. For example, you may see the following:

Seed Stitch

Row 1 (RS): * K1, p1; rep from * to end of row.

Row 2: K the purl sts and p the knits sts.

Rep Row 2 for pattern.

Then, in the instructions proper, when you read, “work seed stitch for 8 rows,” come back to this section to find out how to work seed stitch.

You also may find that a special abbreviation is explained. For example, you may see the following:

C3R (cross 3 right): Sl 1 st to cn and hold to back, k2, p1 from cn.

When you come across C3R in your instructions, you don’t have to scratch your head and wonder, “What the heck?” You can look in the opening information for an explanation. (And if the instruction used in this example is making you wonder, “What the heck?,” refer to the list of abbreviations in Chapter 3.)

Schematics and charts

The schematic is a small outline drawing of each sweater piece in the pattern. The pattern usually includes one schematic showing the body front and back with the neckline sketched in and another schematic of one sleeve. Cardigans usually show a single front, a back, and a sleeve.

Listed along the edges of the drawing are the dimensions of the piece in each size — for example, the width and length of the sweater, the distance from the bottom of the sweater to the armhole, the depth of the armhole, and the depth and width of the neck. Figure 14-1 shows a schematic for a toggle jacket (head to Chapter 18 for instructions on making this project).

Figure 14-1: A sample schematic showing shape and measurements.

Schematics are a big help because they show you the structure of the sweater at a glance: whether the armhole is straight or shaped and whether the sleeve cap is tall and narrow or short and wide. As you become more familiar with the way actual measurements fit you, you’ll be able to tell quickly from the schematic whether you want to knit the pattern as is or make changes.

Depending on the design of the sweater and the way the pattern’s written, a sweater pattern may include a chart to show a stitch, cable, or color pattern. Or it may include a chart to show an unusual feature of the garment, such as a shawl collar. Figure 14-2 shows a chart for a repeating color motif and indicates how you should use it.

Figure 14-2: Sample chart for a repeating color motif.

On right-side rows, work the chart from right to left. On wrong-side rows, work the chart from left to right. Refer to Chapter 3 for more on how to read charts.

If you collect vintage knitting patterns, you’ll seldom see a chart or schematic. Instead, all the moves are painstakingly written out. Some people who learned to knit under the row-by-written-row system regret its demise. Others welcome the picture over the written instructions. The good news is that if you understand better when things are described with words, charts can be written out in word form — and vice versa. If you have a pattern with interminable and obscure directions, read them carefully with graph paper and pencil in hand, and make yourself a chart to better understand the text.

Knitting instructions

After all the introductory information, the instructions for knitting your sweater begin. In general, most patterns for cardigans and pullovers begin with the back piece. Here the pattern tells you how many stitches to cast on and what to do with them.

The instructions usually are sequenced like this:

Instructions for the back.

Instructions for the front (or fronts if you’re knitting a cardigan). Generally, the instructions for the front mirror those of the back until it’s time to shape the front neckline.

Instructions for the sleeves.

The instructions describe each step as you work from the bottom border to the shoulder. They tell you what pattern stitches or colors to work, and they tell you how to shape (increase or decrease) your piece. If, for example, your sweater has a set-in sleeve and shaped armhole, the pattern will alert you that it’s time to begin the shaping by interrupting the text with a boldface heading such as “Shape armhole” or “Armhole shaping.”

Finishing

The “Finishing” section of the pattern tells you what to do with your knitted pieces in order to actually make them into a sweater. It gives any special blocking instructions and tells the order in which to sew the pieces together. You also find instructions for additional sweater details, such as how to make the neckband, cardigan bands, collar, crochet edge, and so on.