So You Want to Knit Your First Sweater?
Want to knit your first sweater but aren’t sure where to begin? I’ve been there. I remember feeling like a sweater was an impossibly large project that would take an impossibly long time… and the fear of making a mistake was nearly enough to keep me from even trying. But, I did decide to try, and I’m so glad I did. What I learned was that a basic sweater isn’t overly complicated, involves mostly basic shaping using fairly simple techniques and can go rather quickly when knit in worsted weight yarn (if you are motivated). Will your first sweater be perfect? Probably not, honestly… mine wasn’t. But it will be DONE and you will have gotten past that fear.
A Great First Sweater Pattern
The Flax by Tin Can Knits is a wonderful sweater with which to start. It’s a classic top-down raglan sweater that is knit seamlessly in worsted weight yarn. Combine that with the fact that it is a free pattern and you can see why it is such a popular choice for a first sweater! It was the first (and second) sweater pattern that I knit, and the pattern has been reworked and improved since then.
Still scared? Start with a baby size.
If your nerves are still a bit on edge or you just want to make sure you know all the steps before you start with an adult-sized project, knitting a baby or child size first is a great option! I knit the sweater in the photo below as my very first sweater... and because the Flax pattern includes sizes for the smallest babies on up to a size-inclusive adult range, you can knit the baby sweater and then knit the same exact pattern for yourself.
The construction and steps are the same across the range of sizes when knitting a sweater, so starting with a smaller size means there won’t be any surprises when you knit that “you-sized” version. And, if you don’t know a baby in need of a sweater, you can always donate your finished project!
Don’t Skip the Most Important Step... SWATCHING!
Swatching is incredibly important to make sure you achieve your desired fit... and there’s nothing to be afraid of. It’s a very simple process that will help to ensure your sweater is a success! Before I knit my first sweater, I didn’t really consider swatching to be overly-important… if I knit a hat or mittens that didn’t fit, I was out, at most, a week or so of knitting and I could either gift the ill-sized project or rip it back and start again.
When knitting a sweater, the time commitment (and emotional investment in the project) is much larger, so it’s very important to take a bit more care in the planning stages. And that extra care should take the form of a swatch!
Brooklyn Tweed has a great resource on swatching that will help if you aren’t familiar with how to properly swatch.
Swatching 101 by Brooklyn Tweed
Seek Help When You Need It
I have been so lucky to be surrounded by amazing (and amazingly generous) knitters who have been willing to help me when I took on new challenges. I hope that you have such people in your life as well, and , if you do, I am sure they will be more than happy to help you if you stumble while working on that first sweater.
If you don’t have anyone locally that is able to help, however, don’t forget that there are amazing resources online that can help you overcome almost any problem. Tin Can Knits has a series of tutorials specifically for the Flax Sweater on their website, and general tutorials on YouTube and elsewhere around the web can be helpful as well. I’ll include some helpful resources below including a couple of videos in which I talk about my sweater planning process.
Finally, don’t forget that in-person and virtual classes with a local yarn store are one of the best ways to learn new skills, and many yarn stores offer classes on sweater knitting that are suitable for beginners!
Tutorials by Tin Can Knits