Knitting the Warm Up Sweater Number Three

For a few months now I’ve had some beautiful Peace Fleece yarn sitting in my yarn stash. Finally, I could wait no longer and cast on for the Warm Up sweater. This is Warm Up number three for me.

Warm Up Pullovers One and Two

The first pullover was knit using Lettlopi Icelandic wool, in wide brown stripes. The second pullover was made using Peace Fleece, and I also knit it in wide stripes.

Sweater number three was knit using Peace Fleece in color “Siberian midnight”. It is a heavy worsted wool with bits of white, and sometimes red, throughout. After washing I find this sweater to be not quite as soft as the non-tweed Peace Fleece. I did a quick, early morning photo shoot.

Changes, or Mods Made to Sweater #3

I changed up the collar for my second knit. The original collar was the only part of the pattern I wasn’t happy with. I gave sweater number two (red stripes) collar a bit of a curl, then did the ribbing.

This time, I decided to go with a tall, funnel neck. I’ll probably end up folding it down. I went up a needle size, and knit a smaller pattern size. Sweater number two, also came out very wide, with long armpits. I’m trying to avoid that this time.

Photos of Warm Up #3

Now that I am finishing up the body ribbing, I can measure the width. This sweater measures 21 inches across the body. This is of course before a wash. It shouldn’t change too much. My red striped sweater is 24 inches across, so I’ve made this one a bit smaller, which was my intention.

I also want to mention that the warm up pattern calls for worsted weight yarn. I am using a bulky worsted, so my yarn is heavier. Even the Lettlopi yarn is not as thick as Peace Fleece. This is why I went up to bigger needles, and knit the size 2 sweater.

Warm Up #3 Notes

This is how I knit this sweater. I had to change things to accommodate my bulky yarn choice.

Cast on 56 stitches, using a size 10, 16 inch, circular needle. I knit a twisted rib for 5 inches. (I would use 60 stitches next time for a bit looser fit.)

To increase to the 60 stitches needed for the size 2 sweater, I made increases by doing a “Make 1, knit 14” – around. Still using the size 10 needle.

I continued to make the short rows using the larger size 10 needle. I mainly did this because I don’t have a size 9 circular needle that was short enough.

At the raglan increases, once I had enough stitches, I was able to switch to a 24 inch, size 9 needle. From there, I went up to the 32 inch size 9. The remainder of the sweater is knit in a size 9 needle, except for the ribbing. I dropped down to a size 8 needle to do the twisted rib at the hem.

As I knit the increases, I watched the length. At about 12 inches, from neck to split, I split for body and sleeves. On my red sweater, the armpit length is 15. So, I did better with this one.

For the bind off I am using the tubular bind off for body and cuffs. HINT: I picked out the white bits to make the yarn smoother for sewing the bind off.

Knitting the Sleeves

I picked up the stitches and ended up with 50 to begin with. I followed the decreases and knit 10-11 rows before making the decreases. At 40 stitches I continued knitting until the sleeve measured 16 inches. I used the magic loop method, which I am beginning to like best for small circumference knitting.

Switched to size 8 needles and did magic loop. Twisted rib for 3.5 -4 inches, knit a normal knit and purl row as the last row. I did a tubular bind off.

Knitting this sweater was very relaxing. After my last, super long project (Birthday61), the Warm Up was a joy to knit.

Each time I have knit this pattern I think it would be a very good pattern for a beginner sweater knitter. Be aware that if you use this thicker yarn, the sweater will come out larger.

Buy the Warm Up Sweater Pattern Here