KNITmuch Issue 12

TIP When making top-down sweaters, if you’re
confused about when to M1L vs. M1R, remember this – if
it’s Right of the marker, M1R; if it’s Left of the marker, M1L.
Completed Fresh Berries Tee in Heliotrope
I love making top-down sweaters because you can
try them on as you go to ensure fit (not for me, so
irrelevant); seamless (not that I mind seaming); perfect
for this project as you don’t have to worry about
matching upfronts to backs with the color changes.
But I must say, the absolute best part about top-down
sweaters is that Hallelujah moment — when you get to
separate the sleeves from the body!
Now that the body and sleeves are separated, it’s TV
knitting time. Round and round you go until it’s time
to join the second ball. This above picture was taken
just before I joined the second ball. I know it’s a size
Small, but his yarn has great yardage. As I mentioned
previously, I drew from the outside of the second ball to
maintain the continuity of color sequence – not critical,
just my preference.
When I got down to the pink section, I paused. I
decided that I wanted to finish the sleeves with pink to
ensure that they were consistent. So, I stopped knitting
the body, finished the sleeves, and still had pink to
continue with the body. This is important to note that if
you choose to make a long-sleeved sweater, the stripes
would be very wide on the sleeves because there are
fewer stitches. You may want to plan the sleeves so that
the colors used are consistent for both sleeves. Again,
not critical – just personal preference, and satisfaction
with the finished project.
When it came time to join the 3rd ball, I wound off
some of the outside colors so that my ending color
(purple) continued with the new ball.
Now for the reveal . . .
As you can see from the photo, I didn’t need much
from the 3rd ball, so the lack of pink didn’t detract from
the finished project at all. I’m very pleased with it and
look forward to seeing it on my 20-something niece
with her long blond hair. Unfortunately, that will have to
wait until the lockdown is lifted. Hopefully, there will be
plenty of summers left for her to wear it.
This proves that a top-down sweater project is a perfect
match for Universal Yarn Cotton Supreme Waves, with its long
color runs. If you want to make a long-sleeved sweater,
just remember to plan for the sleeves; otherwise, this is
a very fast and easy project.
36 KNITmuch | issue 12