Knitting Progress on the Birthday61 Sweater

Welcome to my blog post update about this never-ending knitting project. I knew that this type of stitch would be slow going, but wow… it is worse than I thought.

I wouldn’t care, because I love the act of knitting, but the queue is filling up with projects that I need (and want) to begin.

I began knitting this sweater back on November 5th, 2024. I’ve been working on it, with some delays, for nearly six months. Over the past couple of weeks, it’s been my only knitting project because I really want to get it finished.

The Birthday61 pattern is easy to follow and is well written, with tutorials to help. The Biches & Bûches La Petite lambswool yarn is lovely. The fabric is so soft and squishy. This keeps me going.

I just finished knitting the body by doing 3/4 of an inch in twisted rib. It flows nicely into the alternating rows I just finished. I also did a tubular bind off as the pattern says.

The whole pattern consists of alternating rows. First: one row of knit one below, and purl one. A “knit below” means I have to find the correct spot for the needle (see my photo below). I have to pull the yarn a bit to find the perfect place to make my knit stitch. After this row we do an entire purl row. Twice around completes one row. This makes for very slow going.

Example: 22 full rows equals 1.5 inches of knitting. Compare this to 22 rows knit on my Warm Up sweater that comes to 4.25 inches.

Tubular Bind Off

As was suggested in the pattern, I did a tubular bind off. It is the first time I ever did a long, body hem this way. Because I am knitting with a nice wool yarn, I could use a shorter tail and then spit-splice a new piece of yarn. This worked out well, and the bind off looks quite good.

Time to Try On Birthday61

Now that the body is finished, I can try it on. So I did …… and honestly, I’m not keen on the fit. This is depressing, but washing a project can change it dramatically. I thought it would be looser.

Now I have begun the first sleeve. Right off the bat I messed up. The knits and purls have to match up. The pattern says to begin with a full purl row, but that was not true for me. I don’t know if I made a mistake when putting the sleeves on hold. And who can remember when I did that months ago? I’m using Magic loop, which is not a favorite of mine. So, this sweater is getting more and more aggravating.

Animals in sweaters (individual) images some from Alan_Frigns at Pixabay.

Knitting Life