I hope you’re all as excited as I am – it’s Cast-On time for Rusty Lines!

The first clue was released today so now everyone can get knitting. If you’re sitting on the fence and haven’t jumped in then what’s stopping you? You’ve still got time to join in with us.

The first clue for the sweater is for the yoke. It starts with just a few stitches at the back of the neck:

 

If you think that this looks like a triangular shawl you’d be totally right! This is exactly how the sweater starts. This allows the neck to grow both down and outwards to create the biased shape for the fabric.

Once you’ve reached the width of the neck that you want you add the front and then after that you work in the round until you’ve got the size of the body you like.

 

As each section of the sweater is very modular it’s very simple to modify the sizes as you work. If you change the stitch count for the neck you can then just work more rows so that you still have the same body size.

If you’re changing yarns and get a different gauge you can even measure as you go (with blocking!!) to use your dimensions to size your sweater as you work.

When I was designing I hadn’t realised how easy this sweater was to modify but it’s just perfect for changing the sizing as you work. The two things you need to watch are:

1. Block as you go. The combination of biased construction and a very stretchy/bouncy ridge pattern means that you won’t get a true feel for the size unless you block.

2. Don’t make the armhole openings too small. The drop shoulder construction needs a little extra room in the upper arm area to allow for comfortable arm movement.

 

So if you’re working on the sweater this is what it’s going to look like at the end of clue 1. You can actually see in the photo how much ‘bounce’ there is in her ridges, allowing this sweater to have a lot of stretch. So be careful to open it out a little before you measure or you’ll end up with a much larger/longer sweater than you expected.

Have you decided what colour you’re going to knit?

Come chat with other knitters on Ravelry or Facebook to see how everyone is getting on! (Don’t forget to check out my KAL videos as well to keep you on track).