First sweater done!

My Central Park Hoodie (first one ever) is finished! I'm really happy with how it turned out, and its super warm, which is good as its just turning cold where I am.

I knitted size 36", which is a little loose fitting around my chest, but the sleeves are quite snug. Made some very slight modifications- grafted the top of the hood and added 2" to the length, which made it pointy (not what I wanted to achieve!). I knit the button band in one piece with a long circular needle, but I need to re-block the button band as I cast off a bit too tight.

The yarn I used was a 12 ply felted lambswool and got gauge with 4.5/5mm needles.

Trouble with the front panels

Hello there, hoodie-knitters! Please excuse my potentially naïve question. I have embarked on my first sweater with this pattern, and all was going well until the right front panel. I've reached the point where I should do the armhole and I am having some conceptual second-guessing with the decreasing and the cables. Will I be decreasing some of the cable stitches?

Clara Park Hoodie II

This will be the second update on my CPH. Last two weeks I finished the hood and the buttonband.

For the hood I decided to continue with the cable from the back. But after some time I realised that the cable will end in exactly that corner of the hood, that is not shown, if the hood lies on my shoulder. So I decided to modificate the hood a little, stop some time earlier for the stockinette region and continue just with the cable and in every new row I knitted together the last stitch from the cable with one stitch of the hood. (I sounds complicated in english ... I hope you understand what I mean).

It was quite hard to finish - especially the cross with the front-band cable was quite difficult. That is why it looks a little crumpled, but I think it's ok. (My first idea was to twist the "back cable" with the "front cable" But I had no clue, how to do this.)

After that I continued with the buttonband. I did it the same way Shameka described here. So I took 3 stitches for 4 rows and after all I had 316 stitches on my needle. It's surprising how long it can take to knit just one row, if this row has this many stitches. The buttonband is nearly 3 inch wide. The buttonholes are over 4 rows, which is perfect for my nice green buttons.

Last but not least I will give you an impression of my hoodie, although the sleeves are still missing:

Clara Park Hoodie I

Hi everyone,

I just started blogging last week and knitting is my new obsession since octobre last year. The CPH is my first project that is bigger than a hat or socks. I call it Clara Park Hoodie, because I live in Leipzig - Germany and our biggest park is Clara-Zetkin-Park. (And I'm sorry for mistakes - I'm not a native speaker especially not in knitting language - but I do my best)

It took me some time to find a yarn in a nice colour and quality. The best I found was "Schachenmayer Trachtenwolle - loden meliert". It's kind of mottled dark green new wool. And I use Knit Pick Harmony Wood needles in 5mm (size 8).

I started 10 days ago and I'm very suprised how fast it grows. I already finished the back and the two fronts. And I could not resist and closed the parts to see how it fits. I knit the CPH size 40 (my bust in inch fits this size).
I think the back is ok. It's close-fitting (maybe too close?) but I decided to be satisfied. Fortunately its flexible and at the moment it does not stretch, if I wear it.
But for the front - I know there is still the band to knit, but it seems to be too small. I mean, if I stretch it, it can fits, but without any help it's wide open.

At the moment I decided to go on with the hood instead of the sleeves - as soon it is finished I can knit the front band. I want to include buttonholes and if I still have the feeling, that it is to small I will make a wider band.

You can also read about me and my Clara Park Hoodie in my german blog or look at some more photos.

Hoodie Sleevie!

I haven't posted in a long while but only because there's been no knitting on the hoodie front for a long while too! I'm afraid it was put into hibernation while I did some gift knitting - but now it's full steam ahead!

Previously I had knit a sleeve passed the elbow before realising it was simply too tight. In fact I was doing the increases incorrectly - only half as many as I should have done, Gah! So I haven't frogged that sleeve, but cast on anew for the first sleeve and am now almost up to the shoulder! A few more centimetres and I'll be able to start the sleeve cap - hurrah!! =D

I'm super keen to keep cracking on with the Hoodie so I can have it ready for the cooler weather which is just peeking it's head around the corner now here in Oz, but not quite ready to grace us with its presence! I'm also eager as I've never done sleeve caps and set in sleevey goodness before - well, this is my first jumper so I suppose that's not surprising! So that will be fun to do in only a little bit more knitting time!!

Non Hoodie Finished!

I've finally finished my Hoodless version and I have to say I love it! It mets and exceeds all expectations! If you're interested in all the details you can see them on my blog, otherwise here's a pictures!

Happy Knitting!

I'm new - any yarn recommendations?

Hi all,
Just thought I'd post a snippet to say hello. I've been searching for a while for the perfect first-sweater pattern, and I think/hope I've found it! I haven't bought yarn yet, but I'm off to the shop this weekend then I'll cast on. Can anyone recommend a good type of yarn to use for this? I live in New Zealand so I can't get all the brands I hear mentioned (Knitpicks, Ellan, Cascade etc). I was thinking of a merino-silk blend , or possibly a merino-possum blend if I can afford it. Any ideas? (I'm assuming I need to use a worsted weight yarn...)