How can I resize this sweater for thinner yarn?

#1

I am in love with this sweater! It’s perfect for this airy alpaca I bought last year at Rhinebeck. It says sport weight but it is alpaca and I think maybe it’s a little heavier but I don’t know these gradations that well.

I tried a swatch on 10 1/2 needles but it was too stretchy/lacy. I think a 8 needle would be better. Can I just knit it in the large size? I guess I’ll have to do another swatch:roll: to be sure.

Here’s the sweater:

Garn studio patterns always look intimidating. Hope I can handle it.

#2

Yep, you have to knit a sample on the 8s to see how many sts inch you get with them. Then divide that into the st numbers on the larger size to see which one is closest to the finished measurement you want. You would knit the length according to your normal size or measurement though, the larger sizes may be too long for you in the body, sleeves, or armholes.

The Drops patterns look difficult, but they just assume you know what a knit sweater looks like as you knit it. For the long paragraph parts, copy and paste them into a text file and break them up sentence by sentence. They’re easier to follow if there’s smaller chunks of text to them.

#3

Excellent advice Sue! Thanks so much. I’ll try and get back to you if I can’t figure it… I love the advice also about the Garn pattern. I will do just that!

#4

Suzie, can I ask you one more thing?

this pattern for instance says the swatch should be

US 11 – or size needed to get 11 sts x 23 rows in garter st = 10 x 10 cm / 4’’ x 4’’.

I think I once read Amy saying (or someone?) the swatch should be bigger, say 20 sts. Is it wrong to just do a swatch with only 11 sts and the 23 rows? Because the ends won’t be the same as the final outcome. The edges. You know what I mean! so should I do a bigger swatch than just 11 sts?

#5

Yes, especially for a sweater you should work up a larger swatch because you don’t use the edge sts in measuring. Also with the shorter rows in a smaller swatch, many people tend to tense up but relax once they get going on the larger item. It’s also advised to wash your swatch the way you will the finished item, some yarns grow when wet. If you use size 11s and worsted you might almost get the same gauge, but I thought you wanted to use a smaller needle? CO more than 20 sts because you’ll probably only get 4 or 5 sts per inch, which will make you 20 st swatch about 4 or 5". Remember, you’re not going to try to match the gauge at all with the thinner yarn and smaller needles, you’re going to see what you do get to figure out which larger size to knit to.

#6

Great, that’s wonderful info. thank you again so much, I’ve never washed a swatch in my life! Maybe I will do so for the first time because this yarn is quite special…