Lengthening a cropped jumper pattern

 

My most recent make was a full length jumper but I used the Chuck pattern by Andi Sattterlund which is for a cropped jumper. I really loved the style of this pattern but knew I wouldn’t get much wear from a cropped jumper as it does not really fit in with my style and the other clothes I wear. Despite this only being my second cardigan/jumper (here’s my first!)I decided to give it a try. Here’s how I went about it.

Firstly I rechecked my gauge – as the back of the jumper was stocking stitch I measured a 10 cm square and counted the number of rows and stitches in this square. I also checked the length of the cable repeat as this may have affected the gauge slightly. Once I had these measurements I could work out how many additional rows I would need to add any given length to the bodice and also how many increase I would have to do on each row to add any additional circumference.

I decided it would be best to increase the length by one full cable repeat so as to keep the design as true to the original as possible.

Next I measured myself both at the point where the jumper currently finished (A) and at the point where the lengthened version would finish (B) given an additional length of one cable repeat.

The next step was to compare my measurement (A) at the current finishing point of the jumper to that at the same point on the schematic. It turns out my measurement (A) was 25% larger than that of the schematic. So, I reduced my measurement (B) by 25% to give the equivalent diameter for the schematic.

The difference between these two schematic measurement tells me how much diameter I need to add to the jumper . I then multiplied this by my stitch gauge to figure out how many additional stitches were required to increase the circumference from what it is now to the final circumference at the new length.

As I wanted to keep to the spirit of the original pattern I decided to increase in the same places as the decreases had been to get from the chest to bust measurement – this required increases in 4 places per row. So I divided the total amount of stitch increases required by 4 to tell me how many of the added rows would require increases. I then spread these evenly across the cable repeat to create a smooth gradient from the waist to the hips.

HOW to do it yourself

Step 1: Measure your gauge – How many stitches do you have in 10 cm? How many rows?

Step 2: Divide these numbers by 10. This will tell you how many stitches and rows you have in 1 cm (I will call these your stitch and row gauge)

Step 3: How much length do you want to add to your jumper? Multiply this measurement (in cm) by your row guage. This is how many rows you will add to your pattern.

Step 4: Try on your cropped jumper. Measure your circumference at the current finishing point (This is your waist measurement)

Step 5: Measure your circumference at the length your jumper will be with the additional rows (This is the new circumference)

Step 6: Compare your waist measurement to the schematic on the pattern. The percentage difference between these two is your ease measurement.

Step 7: Reduce your new circumference by the same percentage ease. This is your final jumper circumference

Step 8. Subtract the schematic measurement from your final jumper circumference to give the increased diameter required

Step 9: Multiply this value by your stitch gauge to tell you haw many stitches you need to add

Step 10: Decide how many stitches you wish to add per row – this will often be 4 (2 on each side)

Step 11: Divide the number of stitches you need to add by the number you want to add per row to tell you how many rows need to have increases.

Step 12: Continue to knit your pattern increasing the correct number of times (determined in step 11) evenly across the additional rows.

I hope this helps. Has anyone else had to change a pattern before? I’d love to know what you did and why?

You can find out more about how I increased the length of this jumper including a worked example with my measurements on my Ravelry project page

Chuck Jumper

 

NEWSFLASH: I have a new favourite thing!

I absolutely love this jumper. It took me just about 2 months to knit and I loved every minute of it! The yarn is lovely, the pattern is lovely, the jumper is lovely. I just want to curl up in it forever!

Ok so I think you get the picture that I really like this jumper! Let me tell you a bit more about it. It is the chuck jumper pattern by Andi Satterlund but made into a full length version instead of the cropped version featured in the pattern. It is in a lovely navy wool and it is super warm and cosy!

New Skill alert

After having knit only about 30 stitches of this sweater I came across my first new skill requirement – short rows. After a bit of googling I found a great tutorial on Purl Soho, and it turns out it really is as simple as it sounds. You just knit a short row , so don’t knit all the way to the end and then turn around and come back. Well, actually before turning you have to wrap the yarn around the next stitch but this is super easy and stops big gaps from forming in your knitting.

After overcoming this first challenge I thought it would be smooth sailing from there on in. This was only my second knitted garment but it was from the same designer as my first one: Miette. However, whilst the basic construction was pretty simple I hadn’t factored in the cables. Don’t get me wrong, I did practice cables first on my hat before jumping straight in to a jumper covered in them but what was complicated was the way the repeats of the cables didn’t really match up and the pattern for the cabling was written separately to the pattern for the jumper. so there was lots of jumping around the pattern trying to find “stitch pattern 2” and then remember what row I was up to on each stitch pattern. Surely there’s an app for this sort of thing? If any one knows about it I’d love to hear from you!

Unsure about the length of the jumper I decided to stop knitting the body before I reached the bottom band and transferred the stitches onto scrap yarn. The length was perfectly fine as a cropped jumper but I thought it  might be quite fun to try and adapt the pattern to make it longer. However, I was unsure if I would have enough yarn, so wanted to knit the sleeves first.

The next new skill came when I began on the sleeves and the construction required a sleeve-cap. The instructions were to pick up the stitches around the armhole and then knit from the armpit to the top of the sleeve. Then using short rows gradually construct the sleeve cap by making each row one stitches longer than the previous. The instructions were so clear I had a sleeve-cap before I had even realised what I was doing!

Once the sleeves were done I still had three balls of yarn left so I decided to go ahead and lengthen the jumper. This was where the fun kicked in! As some of you may be aware I am a bit of a maths geek so I relished the opportunity to get a notepad up and do some sums. But that’s another post entirely so if you want to learn more about how I went adjusting this pattern to make the jumper full length keep your eyes peeled over the next few days.

The details:

Pattern: Chuck by Andi Satterlund

Yarn: Drops Nepal in Navy Blue

Needles: Drops Pro circular needles 4.5mm

Alterations: I lengthened the pattern to become full length instead of cropped – more details to follow

The yarn is so warm as it is 65% wool and 35% alpaca it is not too soft but this is not too much of a problem as I always wear a t-shirt under my jumpers. It was really nice to knit with and slid well along the needles and did not split very easily. Although my lovely metal needles are now a bit tarnished probably due to the rough nature of the yarn.

The pattern was easy to follow if a little annoying to have to jump back and forth between the garment instructions and the cable pattern but I guess this comes with the territory of cables. Once I had done the cable repeat once this wasn’t too bad as I had a rough idea what was going on anyway!

I really like the cable design and think I did a pretty good job of them for a first proper attempt at cables other than my last hat. I especially like the twists that run down either side of the centre panel. The main cable design down the front is really good but I am not particularly neat at knitting single stitch cables yet. Maybe there is some special technique I am missing that stops these stitches looking looser than the rest. If anyone has any ideas I would love to hear them!

In case you hadnt noticed yet, I really love this jumper and think I will definitely get loads of wear out of it. I don’t want to say it but its a bit of a pity spring has arrived as it might have to be shelved until next winter – but for the moment I am getting as much use out of it as possible with a pair of cropped jeans and slip on pumps with no socks to keep my temperature in check!

If you want to read some more of my notes on this pattern, what I thought about the yarn and for a sneak peak on how I lengthened the pattern you can check out my project page on Ravelry

A quiet couple of weeks

 

Sorry for the radio silence for the last couple of weeks. I was knocked back with a virus and then had so much work to catch up on! For those who don’t know I am a PhD student in my day-to-day life working on agriculture. This last week I had a huge experiment to set up so have not really had time to write much here.

Don’t worry though because I have lots to report so you can expect some updates soon. Here come the teasers!

Before I got ill I made a new skirt using up the last of my green and blue tartan used for my Megan dress and Lou Lou dress. However, for a couple of weeks after making it I did not look in a fit state to take any photos. So as soon as I get round to taking some I will show you!

Also, my sewing room is almost complete based on some of the ideas I shared here and featuring my new ironing board cover too!

Finally, the only activity I could cope with whilst unwell and the only thing I’ve had time to squeeze in over the last few days is knitting! So after the success of my first cardigan I have been working on a jumper – I already have most of the body and one sleeve done so it hopefully shouldn’t be too long before I can share that with you too!

Thanks for your patience and continuing to read despite me not having any projects to show you, but hopefully there will be plenty to come soon!

If you want to keep up to date with my jumper progress you can find my project page over on Ravelry

Meet Mr. Dinosaur

I’m always being so serious. Mostly at work, but also with my crafting. Pretty much everything I make has to have a purpose or add to my wardrobe or be the perfect gift. I cant remeber the last time I made something just because. Well, until now!

I was browsing through simply sewing magazine because I have already received issue three and other than my embroidery I have not yet managed to make anything from any of the issues. I saw this pattern for making a toy dinosaur from felt and thought I would give it ago. I didnt have any felt in but something jumped into my mind. I had a couple of jumpers that had gone all out of shape that I never wear any more and they were the perfect colours for a really fun dinosaur! So I thought I would go for it!

The magazine came with patterns for both a large and small dinosaur. I opted for the small one and got cutting. As this was a “just-for-fun” project I didnt even bother tracing the pattern. Throwing caution to the wind I just drew the approximate shape onto the jumper using chalk and went for it. This was a huge step out of my comfort zone which involves meticulous tracing, lining up of fabric pieces, pinning and cutting cardfully with a rotary cutter. But it worked (and I’ll share a little secret with you it was kind of fun!)

Anyway, I havent really sewn much with knits before so I didnt really know how to properly set up my machine but I just went for it. at first the fabric was getting a bit chewed up but I adjusted the tension and then there didnt seem to be much problem. It was just a simple case of sewing the spots on and then sewing the 2 main body pieces together with the spikes inbetween.

He’s a bit scruffy round the edges, especially his feet but I think he turned out quite well for a quick project just for fun! and he can now stand guard over my sewing machine when I leave it out on the dining table when I’m not supposed too!

Mr. Dinosaur on guard at my sewing machine

H.