As I said in Knitting Catchup, I've been knitting a bunch recently--a few sweaters, and a bunch of socks--and I found myself writing a list of sweaters that I was thinking about knitting, and thought it'd be interesting to share. But first, some background...

I've begun a writing project that explores, in great detail, how to knit a very basic sock. I've knit socks here and there forever, but I think in the past year knitting lots of socks has become a thing and I think one of the most thrilling aspects of knitting is the way that repetition (at many levels,) gives you the space to develop a deep understanding of your project and I think this gives rise to craft. I definitely want to knit a bunch more socks, and also I've been toying more with the idea of knitting sets of socks, maybe on the order of 5 or 10 pairs (for myself and friends) so I can see what it'd be like to only wear hand knit socks.

The last sweater I finished was a bottom-up-raglan seamless number with a v-neck, and the whole process was a lot of fun and I definitely want to explore some variants on this. I've also been working on a colorwork sweater for a couple of weeks, and while I've enjoyed that a lot, I think that I'd like to mostly stick with a few more plain sweaters, to explore different shapes and also be able to have a collection of sweaters that I can wear most days during the cooler months.

Pursuant to both of these projects I've recently begun buying yarn in bulk, mostly un-dyed (either to stay natural or to be garment dyed at some point.) This affords reasonable and predictable options for getting really soft yarn. The first batch appeared over the weekend, so I'm itching to cast on a new sleeve!

Here's the list of sweaters that I'm interested in knitting:

  • I'd like to explore knitting more bottom up yoke sweaters, I've never made the hybrid yoke sweater, and while i've done the set-in-sleeve option a few times, I haven't done the saddle-shouldered sweater yet.
  • I'd like to give crew necks another go. Particularly with some of these silk blends, I think a nice crew neck could be fun to explore, both to see if I can tolerate wearing them. I've been doing a lot of collars with ribbing recently, and I think a crew neck with a rolled edge might be nice.
  • While I sometimes find lots of garter stitch to be too densen and sometimes awkward, a little garter stitch edge here and there can be really fetching, and I'd like to explore what it'd be like to put more garter stitch in places, like as a v-neck collar or maybe even the lower hem of a garment. I think, for me the challenge is mostly in finding a way so that he extra depth of the fabric doesn't feel like it's flaring out.
  • I've thought about doing a sweater that was entirely made out of 2 by 2 ribbing. This might be a terrible idea.
  • I made a sweater last year that had garter rib on the yoke, but was plane otherwise, and I really enjoyed it, though it has some flaws (Henley neck that doesn't quite work, sleeves were a bit wrong,) and I'd like to play around with this idea, both with "garter rib for the yoke" but also more garter rib (in general,) including maybe a garter rib cardigan.

I'm excited. Looking back at this, I think I need to also pull together a list of more concrete pattern ideas rather than just a list of variables, but there's time! And I definitely can cast on a sleeve for fun!