30 day sweater

So, here it is! Last month I took the 30 Day Sweater challenge, which means I started knitting this colorblocked raglan sweater for Bowie on October 1st and finished it on October 30th. I took the challenge along with 5,000 other knitters, and one of them was my friend Heather from Ewe Ewe yarns. (You can check out her sweater progress here.) I knitted this sweater using Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted yarn, which is a merino superwash yarn and it turned out to be incredibly soft and comfy. I'm pretty sure that this will be my go-to worsted weight yarn from now on, and it comes in the best colors.

Here's what the sweater looks like when it's laid flat. This was super fun to knit. I was so happy to have found these orange buttons to match my raglan button band, although it took some hunting to track them down. This sweater fits Bowie really well and I made it a tiny bit bigger than his current size so he can hopefully wear it for awhile before outgrowing it.

Here are the in-progress photos I took while making my 30 Day Sweater. It's kind of cool to look back and see things come together, day by day and week by week.

And there you have it. The 30 Day Sweater online course has definitely changed my outlook on knitting sweaters. It has made me more confident in understanding shaping and sizing, and I think I'll approach sweater knitting completely differently now. Which is exciting. That and I want to knit all of the sweaters now. Which could be dangerous but lots of fun. I'll be drawing a winner for the Eucalan gift pack (see this post to enter) tonight at midnight CST. Thanks so much for following along!

finish and soak and block

So, I finished knitting my little sweater for Bowie for the 30 Day Sweater Challenge (more pics soon), which means I've reached that exciting time that every knitter looks forward to. Soaking and blocking!

You don't skip this part, right? (Right?) Because you owe it to yourself to finish out these last steps properly on that amazing handmade garment that you spent so much time knitting. A good soak in a basin/sink filled with lukewarm water and rinseless wool wash will do wonders for how your hand-knits look and feel.

I soaked Bowie's sweater in a large mixing bowl with a teaspoon of Eucalan's eucalyptus wool wash. Which smells wonderful and has a ton of benefits. Not only does it have natural moth and flea inhibiting properties, but the lanolin and essential oils act as natural fabric softeners that made this sweater extra soft, also allowing the fibers/stitches to lay really nicely. Wool wash will clean and soften your hand-knits with amazing results and no rinsing. 

  
Here's the soaking and blocking process I used, adapted from the 30 Day Sweater course.

• Soak finished garment in lukewarm water with one teaspoon of Eucalan per gallon for 15-30 minutes, gently squeezing out all air bubbles.
• Remove the garment and squeeze out excess water, being careful not to twist or wring fabric.
• Lift garment, supporting it from the bottom so it does not stretch and lay it on a clean, dry towel.
• Roll the sweater in the towel burrito-style and push down (hard) on the towel from end-to-end. Remove sweater.
• Fabric should feel damp but not saturated.
• Lay out your sweater in your desired finished shape, making sure to smooth all wrinkles. Pin down if needed. (I didn't this time, but for some hand-knits, I do.)
• Let dry completely, away from direct heat or sun. (I usually lay mine out on a second clean, dry towel.)

 

The absolute hardest part of soaking and blocking is waiting for your garment to dry. But usually (depending on your climate/humidity) it will be totally dry in one or two days.

Would you like to soak your next finished project in Eucalan? I know you would. Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win your own Eucalan gift pack. This set includes one 3.3 fl oz bottle of each of the four original scents – Eucalyptus, Lavender, Grapefruit and Natural/Unscented. Winner will be drawn on Monday, November 4th at 12:00 am CST. Thanks for following along on my 30 Day Sweater progress and good luck!

30 Day Sweater Challenge, Day 4

Oh my. What is this craziness? It took a little bit of planning but it's a color-blocked baseball-style raglan sweater that I'm knitting for the 30 Day Sweater Challenge. Read more about it on my guest post today on the Ewe Ewe knitting blog.

If you want to get in on the action and knit your own sweater, visit 30daysweater.com to download your free sweater planning guide. And visit NobleKnits.com during the the month of October to get 15% off of Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted yarn! Use the code: 30DAYSWEATER at checkout. Let's get knitting.

30 Day Sweater Challenge, Day 2: the lazy knitter

I know I'm doing it wrong, but I don't always knit gauge swatches. Even when I'm knitting sweaters. (Gasp.) Unless I'm designing something and even then, I usually just make a teeny-tiny swatch, which probably doesn't even count. But for the 30 Day Sweater Challenge, you get to design your own sweater using your own measurements so you really, really have to knit a swatch. Mine is still kind of wrong because I didn't make the garter stitch border but I did soak it and block it and then measured/counted my stitches with a ruler. The whole process didn't take long at all. It wasn't a huge pain. I'm glad I had a really good excuse to swatch because now I've reminded myself that it's not a big deal and I know swatching will absolutely save me a lot of time in the future if I become a 'good' swatcher and do this each time I knit. I know it's hard to resist diving right into a new project but I can definitely see the value of a swatch. Now that I know my gauge, I can plug those numbers into a formula that will become my own personal sweater pattern. And that is pretty cool.

We are on Day 2 of the 30 Day Sweater Challenge, which means we've all made our sweater-making plans and swatches and I'm almost ready to cast on. I'm going to be knitting Bowie's sweater in Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted in three colors – Brushed Silver, Sapphire and Orange Peel. (I know ... even the color names are cool.) Wooly Worsted is incredibly soft 100% merino and it's washable, so I know it will be the perfect yarn for a child's sweater.

If you want to get in on the action and knit your own sweater, visit 30daysweater.com to download your free sweater planning guide. And visit NobleKnits.com during the month of October to get 15% off Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted yarn! Use the code: 30DAYSWEATER at checkout.

30 Day Sweater Challenge

Join thousands of knitters world-wide this October in The 30 Day Sweater Challenge! Today is the first day of this awesome world-wide knit-along and if you were hoping to knit a sweater just in time for fall, I invite you to take this 30-day challenge with me.

To sign up, visit 30 Day Sweater Challenge and download your free sweater planning guide. It's definitely not too late to jump in. You can knit a sweater for yourself or a loved one – adult, child or baby. If you want to go a step further, there is an online course available which is incredibly comprehensive and will teach you everything about sweater construction that you could possibly imagine. Plus it has printable worksheets, gauge/swatch calculators and a sweater planning calendar to keep you on track.

The 30 Day Sweater is the easiest way to design a top-down, seamless raglan sweater that fits in 30 days or less. This flexible framework puts you in control, allowing you to make decisions along the way to design a sweater that's your size in the yarn of your choosing with lots of room for customizations. The 30 Day Sweater online course includes step-by-step, day-by-day instructions, downloadable worksheets, video tutorials, and an interactive forum where you can ask questions from experienced knitters or share your progress. With The 30 Day Sweater you can make an unlimited number of sweaters for any size person, in almost any yarn. 

This month, I will be taking the 30 day challenge and will knit a raglan sweater for Bowie using my new favorite worsted weight 100% merino superwash yarn, Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted. I'll be using three awesome colors and I can't wait to get started. I'll post my progress here and on the Ewe Ewe knitting blog, so check back to see how everything's going.

But in the meantime, visit 30 Day Sweater Challenge and download your free sweater planning guide. The guide will help you choose your yarn and then making a swatch. Knit along with me! This is going to be fun.