A New Jumper

I've knitted a few jumpers now and got past the early failures of too big, too long, and generally unwearable to a reasonable sense of what works for me, so this time I decided to try without an actual pattern to follow, although I did look at Donna Smith's Peerie Leaves for a general size guide. Very general because the Jamieson and Smith 5 ply doesn't equate to the DK that pattern uses so there was added guesswork for the number of stitches to cast on. I used 4mm needles too, which I like for this because I prefer a lighter fabric that I can layer. I'm sorely tempted to order a couple more cones straight away to start a second jumper on smaller needles for when I want something slightly more windproof though. 

Basically I'm happy with the result except for the neck. Long story short I should have added at least another 18 stitches to it, I went down a needle size first time thinking the tighter knit would help with structure. It was too tight so I had to rip it back, and definitely dropped some stitches in the process. I did not manage to effectively pick them all back up so after I'd knitted the neck for a second time and finally clicked on where I'd gone wrong (it should have had another pattern repeat/18 stitches) I didn't want to risk ripping back again. 

More than anything though I've fallen in love with the yarn. It's lovely to knit with, the colors are fabulous, and it feels great. It's not as grippy as the shetland yarns I'm used to - hence the slipped stitches on the neck but I cannot wait to wear this or to knit more with the 5 ply. It's probably for the best that I can't call in to the shop right now, there's zero chance I'd exercise even a minimum of self restraint. If I order online I do at least have to meet the postman's eye and all the judgement I imagine I'm seeing there. This is the work postman, a genuinely nice man who yet manages to make the most ordinary conversation sound threatening.

Anyway, I strongly recommend trying the 5 ply. It comes in 50g balls and 250g cones. For a jumper to fit a UK size 20 with negative ease I used just over 1.5 cones of the main colour, maybe 20 -25g each of the other colours. Unless you're seriously skinny and like a fairly cropped jumper you would definitely want 2 cones for any larger project.