A Sweater Knitting Class

In all my years of knitting I have never ever taken a single knitting class. So when my LYS advertised a baby sweater class that promised to teach several things I had attempted to do on my own but had never successfully completed, I signed up.

The great thing about the class was one of the co-designers of the sweater pattern was the teacher. Alexa Ludeman from Tin Can Knits helped a few of us through a sweater named Gramps. Let's start with a photo of my co-learners; Alexa is in the center.

My Gramps classmates and teacher

Here's a photo of Alexa's lovely daughter, Hunter, modelling her version of the pattern. (BTW it is named Gramps because it looks like something your grandpa might wear, pockets and patches on the sleeves.)

There were several techniques I have failed to do in the past but managed to do right this time with Alexa's guidance and the tutorials from the website. First there was the provisional cast-on using a crocheted chain. I've done this in the past only to have to cut away the cast-on instead of being able to simply pull it away. It worked like a charm this time. Then there was the paired increased for the raglan sleeve inset. I managed it as well. See my version below:

My paired increases

The lines you see on the left and right sides of this photo are the slants that help shape the sleeve. You can also see those lines clearly on Hunter's right hand sleeve above.

There will be more as soon as I finish this project, so stay tuned. Thanks, Alexa and classmates for making learning this stuff so much fun! I should have taken classes years ago.

As a follow up on my yarn bombing post it appears one crafter has taken on 100 stop signs recently in Clairmont, California, you know the land of fruits and nuts.. Check out this website for a story and video: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/25/stop-sign-yarn-flowers-san-diego_n_1454101.html

Should a stop sign in PoMo end up with a stem and leaves, don't blame me!! Lots of knitters read the Huffington Post, right?

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