Tag: ankestrick

Tips For Beginning the Birthday61 Sweater Project

I’ve begun knitting the Birthday61 sweater pattern in half-fisherman’s rib. Here is my review with advice and tips for beginning this knitting project.

The Birthday61 sweater is a one-color pullover that is knit in half-fisherman’s rib. The yarn suggestion is fine fingering. My swatch is done and I have begun the project.

I sometimes get questions from readers related to a pattern. So I want to supply as much information now as possible NOW when the pattern is fresh in my mind. Five years from now (or even 5 months), I will have forgotten what I did.

Buy the Birthday61 Pattern Here

Answering Your Questions About the Pattern

First I want to emphasize that Ankestrick has a forum at Ravelry that is especially for help knitting her patterns. That is where you should ask pattern questions! Begin on this page (sign into Ravelry to view) and search for your pattern alphabetically. Every pattern, by Ankestrick, is listed, so find the one you are working on, and ask the question there. I had a question about knitting the swatch, and I received a fast reply.

I am writing this blog post to help you knit this project. However, by the time you read this, I may have completed this sweater long ago. I will most likely not remember how to answer your question. Use the Ravelry forum for best results.

Also, Anke has a list of Special Techniques for her patterns. I watched her video for casting on and followed it without much of a problem. Although, the knits and purls tend to curl up and look bad, I managed to get through it.

Beginning the Pattern, the Cast On

I did Anke’s cast-on and row 1, which is the set up row, using a size 0 needle. (See her techniques link above.)

On Row 2, I switched to my main size 1 needle (16″ circular). I’m not sure this is necessary, and the designer does not suggest it. But the cast-on is like the Italian tubular where a smaller needle is used first. *Also, be sure that join looks good. It will be prominent in the middle front of the sweater neck.

Yoke markers and short rows could be confusing for some knitters. The directions are excellent. The designer provides a diagram for the placement of the stitch markers. This is very helpful for knitting the short rows.

To help keep things straight, I used various colored stitch markers. The colors designate a different section. The front (pink) and back (black) and sleeves (green-blue) – will get the increases. All of those sections are separated by a raglan section which will not be increased.

The color coding helped me a lot to visualize which part of the sweater I was knitting. Be sure the BOR marker is easy to see – make it different (I used a seahorse).

Birthday61 sweater cast on
Marker placement – BEFORE the yarn break for Birthday61

To begin with, the beginning of the round is in the front. Then, later we move it to the back.

Dealing With Knitting Mistakes

I picked up the project to get a new picture for this post and found a BIG FAT MISTAKE! It was staring me in the face, and is very obvious. It is a few rows back and I will not be trying to fix it. It is in a raglan section and I knit the whole section incorrectly. But I occasionally have small mistakes to fix.

short rows and increases
New BOR at back
Oh boy…

I can’t believe I already have a mistake, but it won’t be the last. I only hope that my goofs won’t be too noticeable once the sweater is complete.

Missed the Increase? Here’s what to do.

This brings me to another issue I had. How do I fix, or rip back, a half-fisherman’s rib stitch? It’s tricky. It is helpful to use a tiny crochet hook. When you un-knit the stitch, it will leave 2 strands on your needle. One must be pulled through under the other and put back onto the left needle.

Pay attention to the increase rows. It is easy to forget to make an increase, and then you must rip back to add the increase, or ignore it and add the increase later. I had to do this for a sleeve. Added 2 stitches later.

This happens to me when I am on an increase round and I forget to do the increase at the beginning, or end, of the section. I’ve already begun a new section when I remember I should have made the increase. I will only rip back a few stitches at most. If I am far ahead, I simply make up the increase later.

1. Ripping back Fisherman’s Rib – I’m not sure why she has 3 strands to deal with except that it’s not “half” fisherman’s rib. She is knitting the same rib on both sides of her work. We are knitting into the loop below on every other round for this sweater, which is called half fisherman’s rib. To fix a stitch we still have to pull a stitch under the other one.

2. Here is a video about fixing a mistake in half fisherman’s rib when the mistake is many rows back. It’s a little intimidating to me. Some of you may find it helpful.

*Be sure to count your stitches in each front, back and sleeve section and make sure they match up to the pattern. This helps point out missed increases.

Where I’m at on this Project Today

After many hours of knitting, I am still finishing the yoke. I have not separated for the sleeves yet. I’m measuring lengths to be sure the yoke does not get too long. For my size, the yoke length should be 9 inches and I’m nearly there.

knitting Birthday61 sweater
Progress on Birthday61

And then this…

It is mid January and I have separated the body and sleeves. I added waste yarn the same way I always do – with two strands. It went fine.

I’ll have to add a few increases as I begin the body because my counts were off. The yoke was getting long and I skipped a few rounds before the separation. I have 115 for back and front. It should be 123 for my size. I need to add 8 stitches to each – front and back. I’m not worried about the missing 2 stitches for each sleeve.

knitting sweater sleeve and body separation
Sleeves and body separated

I am loving the yarn. The light color makes knitting easy.

More sweater knitting posts

Birthday 61 Sweater Pattern Could Be a Challenging Knit

This simple (looking) pullover by ANKESTRiCK caught my eye. I love it for its one-color simplicity and squishy ribbed texture.

Buy the Birthday 61 Sweater Pattern Here

Looking further at the pattern, I realized that it may be too difficult for me to accomplish. I have my doubts, but will probably try it anyway. (See my trial below.)

First of all, the whole sweater is knit in a small size needle. Suggested needle size 0 to 1.5US, depending on gauge. That is tiny! This means lots and lots of stitches, that could take me months to finish. On top of that, it is knit in a “half fisherman’s rib” . The tags for this sweater include “brioche tuck”. Scary. I’ve tried knitting brioche a number of times and failed miserably.

Pattern Help

Fortunately Ankestrick has a full page of links for help. Some links will apply to the Birthday 61 sweater pattern and go to YouTube. I love it when designers give me lots of help to achieve success. She also has a Ravelry forum page for help with this specific project.

Anke Strick Special Techniques Link List

She has her own suggested invisible cast on, seamless join, and decreases worked in the half fisherman’s rib stitch. The pattern explains how to incorporate the rib stitch while making German short rows. The pattern lists many special techniques I’m unfamiliar with. But, I should be able to find help to create them while knitting the project. Will I understand and accomplish them? Who knows. I have successfully knit her Rebel cardigan pattern, and am already a fan of this designer.

The Yarn

A sweater knitting project can be quite expensive. Lots of yarn is needed to knit a size 3 or 4 sweater (which is my usual pattern size). This pattern calls for 1800 yards. This is a lot of yarn, and must be because of the stitch used.

*Note to self: knit this using a light color to easily see the stitches!

The second issue for me is the needle size. After looking through my smallest needles, I have the required lengths in size 1US only. Otherwise, I would need to spend money on new needles.

The Swatch, Or Jump Right In?

This leads to the question of how to knit a swatch for the Birthday 61 sweater. I may jump in and try the pattern with some stash yarn just to see how far I get.

Okay, this is what I decided to do. I began the pattern using the smallest sweater size (my actual size will be 4). I dug out some Rauma yarn. I need to know if this pattern is something I can manage, so I’ll try out the special cast on and then down the yoke with increases and short rows.

A New Type of Cast On (for me)

Anke lists her cast-on as “Anke’s Invisible Cast On“. It seems very similar to the Italian Tubular cast on, except with better changes (IMO). She does her videos in Continental style, which can be confusing to those of us who knit English style. She also does not speak, but adds text to her vids.

For the cast-on, (use any length needle to begin, but switch to a 16″ for the join.) I watched the video, but then realized I could simply follow the directions in the pattern – this is easier!

This is not a super easy cast on for me, but with practice it will get better. I used my long 32″ size 1 needle. The first (set up) row is turned, and we work back across the stitches that were just cast on – without having to join in the round – yet. Get out the size 16″ for row 2 as that will be joined to knit in the round.

Cast on edge
Rauma

Yoke Markers and Short Rows

I did not knit all the first rows after cast on because this is a trial knit and not something I will wear.

Upcoming are the yoke placement markers for raglan sections and sleeve / body increases. Those are combined with working short rows – and I was thinking that this could get sketchy. BUT… every short row is explicitly described – all 14 of them!

As a bonus, the designer has included a diagram of the neck opening with all the marker placements – 8 of them + BOR – for the four raglan sections, two sleeves, and body front and back. An image to reference is always helpful and this greatly helped me.

* When looking at the image showing marker placement, remember you are knitting counter clockwise from the BOR marker. Also, we are knitting down from the top of the sweater. Flip the page upside down if that helps to visualize.

Also, I suggest using various colored markers for the different sections. It helped me keep track of where I was (green means sleeves, white means front, etc.)

To get through the increases I need to know how to kbYOk. This is a knit below, yarn over, knit stitch. It is a two-stitch increase. See her video here. It is not difficult, but remember to do it because going back to fix a forgotten kbYOk is a bit tricky. And for some reason I kept forgetting to do them.

Below is my trial sample showing how the sweater top will look after all the short rows are complete. See how the very front is the shortest. Between each section of increases (sleeves and body) is a raglan section – four of them. Those do not change width.

birthday 61 sweater
Knitting short rows and increases

This sample is full of goofs (and the beginning neck rows have been omitted). I don’t like my cast on edge. I’ll have to practice that, or maybe not use it.

At this point I will be knitting increase rows alternating with purl rows. This continues to widen the sleeves and body. I probably won’t go much further as this is only practice. From this point on, I think I am able to continue and will plan to buy yarn and knit the Birthday 61 pattern.

To keep track of knits and purls, here is what they look like. The purl stitch is “sunken” and the knits stand out.

half Fishermans rib knits and purls
Knits and purls.

So I have continued knitting on this trial piece and has you can see, I have made some obvious mistakes. I’m not happy with the cast on. I’ve messed up my knits and purls. Also, ripping back to fix something can be very tricky.

Birthday61 trial
A big goof!

More Advice From a Knitter’s Review

After viewing the test knits and other Ravelry knitters, it was brought to my attention that there is an alternate way of knitting the ribbing. On page three of the pattern, at the bottom, you’ll find the information. It replaces the purl row with a k1,p1 row. Apparently they look the same. I’m doing purls only for those rows.

Oh Gosh, More Yarn to Buy

I do not have enough of any fingering yarn to knit this project, so now I will be buying more yarn. The amount required is quite high – 1800 yards for my size 4. Once I begin this pattern for real, I’ll write another page all about it.

yarn ball divider
Knitters & non-knitters welcome – Keep Reading

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