It’s a good thing I live in a place where the average temperatures in November are still in the mid-60s, because I just knitted myself a sleeveless sweater (or a sweater vest, if you insist… but it’s not very vest-like).

My in-laws gave me The Shape of Knitting for my birthday this past April, and this is the first project I’ve knitted from it – the High Profile Top. The book is all about interesting 3-D knitting construction techniques. I really like how the funnel neck is shaped – there are some short rows on the front, which gives the neck some breathing room (literally), so it’s not a choke-y turtleneck feeling.

I knitted this in Malabrigo Worsted in Cabernet, which was an interesting yarn to work with. It didn’t have a very consistent weight – some bits were thicker and fluffier, some thinner. It’s a single ply yarn, and I’m not sure if that’s why it’s like that, or if it’s just this Malabrigo yarn. Either way, it’s a really soft yarn and I liked knitting with it except for a few super fluffy parts. I did read that it pills really easily, so I’m going to be careful not to wash it too much. =)

I like the design of the sweater, and the pattern was easy to follow, but it is a bit odd – it’s a sleeveless sweater with an intentional holey cable pattern – how exactly am I supposed to wear this? The Malabrigo yarn is 100% wool, so it’s warm, and I obviously have to wear something underneath it, so it’s too warm for summer. And it’s sleeveless… so it’s also kind of chilly in all the other seasons. I tried it with a long-sleeved shirt underneath it, but wasn’t a huge fan, so I’ll probably primarily wear it under a jacket.

Any other ideas for how to wear this?

When I found out I was going to be an aunt (yay!), it was the perfect opportunity to knit my first sweater! I was in a yarn shop and saw a really sweet baby kimono sample hanging next to the sock yarn. I promptly bought a skein of Berroco sock yarn, which is so so soft (and machine washable), and headed home with dreams of sweaters…

I looked up the baby kimono pattern, and it seemed too vaguely written for me to follow, since I am was a total sweater novice. Instead, I trawled ravelry for a while, and found the Sunnyside cardigan pattern. It was well written, and I got to learn how to make cables (which are actually very simple to make, even though they look mind-boggling)

I did discover that a baby sweater may be smaller than an adult sweater, but if you knit it in sock yarn, it still takes a lot of stitches! I also learned how to fix missed cables, for that time I forgot to make a cable until two rows later… invaluable skills!