With the temperature dropping and the leaves continuing to change, here in the northern hemisphere, Autumn is just beginning! Our sweater-making hearts LOVE this season! It's the season we all affectionately refer to as Sweater Weather!
Types of Sweaters
Most knitters are familiar with the more classic constructions of sweaters, like the raglan shape or a circular yoke sweater. But in this post, and the next, we wanted to take a look at not just those types of construction methods, but also some of the methods that are a little less mainstream, and then talk a bit about the benefits of ALL the various styles and constructions.
The Raglan:
Raglan sweaters most often are knit top-down with the shaping taking place along 4 diagonal lines from the shoulders to the underarms. One of the benefits to knitting a raglan style sweater is they are usually designed to have more of a sweatshirt fit, so this would be a good option for a first-time sweater knitter. The Flax or Flax Light sweaters by Tin Can Knits are beginner friendly patterns with simple instructions for fantastic results!
Flax by TinCanKnits knit in Worsted weight, would be the ideal in Luxe Worsted, available 24/7 as one of our fall PK Essentials bases.
Flax Light by TinCanKnits is knit is knit in a fingering weight yarn, some great bases for this sweater would be Feet Fingering and Primo Fingering, also available 24/7 in our fall PK Essentials.
Circular or Round Yoke:
A yoke sweater is typically knit in a circle, with the shaping happening only on a few rows of the pattern as a way to mask the armhole shaping. Most often these types of sweaters are knit top-down, but they can also be knit bottom-up. This type of sweater construction is great for showing off stranded colorwork designs! Some examples are the Misurina by Catlin Hunter and the recently published Georgiana sweater by Amy Opie. (Kits available in the shop).
Misurina by Caitlin Hunter is a top-down, fingering weight, yoke sweater featuring lace, cables and colorwork for a trifecta of knitting techniques!
Georgiana Sweater by A.Opie Designs is a stranded color work design, featuring a 3-color octagon motif that creates the look of an abstract honeycomb.
Drop Shoulder:
Drop Shoulder sweaters are designed as either top-down or bottom-up. They are usually oversized, as that accounts for a lack of armhole shaping. The sleeve seams drop down off the shoulder. Once again, this style of sweater can be easy to knit once you know some basic techniques. Joji Locatelli’s The Easy One (top-down) or Andrea Mowry’s The Weekender (bottom-up) are great examples of ways to construct this style of sweater.
The Easy One by Joji Locatelli is the perfect first sweater for those knitters who’ve always been afraid of making one. With its comfortable relaxed fit, you’ll be sure that it will fit you no matter what.
The Weekender by Andrea Mowry combines some of Andrea's favorite attributes - texture, faux seams, drop shoulder, and some positive ease to create this versatile, flattering sweater!
Timeless Styles
These are some examples of timeless sweater styles that are great for those of you who are just dipping their toes into sweater knitting or for those who have been knitting sweaters for decades. But stay tuned, because in our next blog post we will look at some interesting construction methods that are not as mainstream and would be fun to try out!
Don't forget to join our Fall KAL/CAL starting October 1st over in our Ravelry group! Maybe one of these types of sweaters is in your queue? If so, head to the group and join the fun!
Happy knitting and crocheting, friends!
The Plucky Crew
P.S. We love seeing all of your beautiful creations made with Plucky yarn! Please tag us @thepluckyknitter or use the hashtag #pluckyknitter on Instagram and Facebook so we don't miss them! And sign up for our newsletter emails for a look at upcoming yarn and kit updates!