birthday 61 – New England's Narrow Road

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.

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.

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.