I’ve been crocheting for years.
While I love crocheting, I haven’t always been pleased with the way crochet apparel drapes.
I was on the hunt for a crochet pattern that looked like knit when I stumbled upon the Amalfi crochet sweater pattern by Grace at ForTheFrills.com.
I was about a third of the way through the crochet sweater pattern when I thought to myself – if I am trying so hard to make my crochet work look like knit, why don’t I just learn how to knit?
Revolutionary, I know!
At that point I decided to switch from crocheting the sweater to knitting the sweater.
Now, obviously, since I had no prior knitting experience, I practiced a bunch before working on the sweater.
I ordered some knitting supplies (this set of needles and this adorable yarn storage tote bag) and watched beginner knitting tutorials on YouTube.
I started practicing knit and purl stitches and made a few small swatches of stockinette.
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Once I felt comfortable with the mechanics of knitting, I came back to my crochet sweater and picked things up with 4.5mm knitting needles instead of the 5mm crochet hook I had started with.
The result? This beautiful crochet/knit hybrid sweater that is oversized, comfy and just oh-so dreamy!
This sweater was made using Truboo bamboo yarn in the color Sand.
I made a lot of mistakes and learned so much from my first “knit” sweater (quotation marks only because it started out as crochet).
Learning a new craft (in this case, knitting) is both challenging and exciting. Knitting seemed so intimidating to me, which is why I put off learning it for all these years. I’m not sure why I had it ingrained in my head that it would be so hard!
Maybe as a lifelong crocheter, it was just difficult for me to imagine using two needles instead of one. But it wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought!
If you are a crocheter interested in picking up knitting, just go for it! Grab your first set of knitting needles (or pencils, or chopsticks, or whatever else you have lying around), watch a YouTube video, and start practicing. It takes some getting used to, but if I can do it, so can you!
The sections of this sweater that are crochet are the front top panel and the back top panel. These sections were constructed using a combination of double crochet and slip stitches to get that ribbed knit look.
After sewing the top two panels together at the shoulder seams, I picked up stitches using 4.5mm circular needles all along the bottom and knit the rest of the body in the round. The bottom panel of the body was worked using a combination of rows of knit stitches and rows of purl stitches.
I made it up as I went along, adding a row of purl stitches whenever I wanted to add a stripe or two in the fabric. I like a cropped length for my sweaters, so I made it shorter than a standard sweater.
The hemline was worked as 1×1 ribbing.
After finishing up the body, I picked up stitches all around the sleeve openings and knit in the round for about 65 rows, give or take. I did one row of knitting two stitches together (k2tog), and then 15 rows of 2×2 rib stitch for the cuffs.
The result? An fabulous puff sleeve moment ♥
To finish the sweater, I picked up stitches along the neckline and created a collar with about 7 rows of 1×1 rib stitching.
Now that I have learned the mechanics of knitting in the round, creating ribbed hemlines, cuffs, and collars, and how to construct a sweater from knitting in the flat, I’m excited to start again from the top and dive in to my first 100%-knit sweater.
Have any of you crocheters out there switched to knitting? Now that I’ve learned the basics, I’m totally hooked! You’ll likely find me knitting up a storm from here on out.