A Plain Knitted Jumper

Before I start work on another modular project I thought I had better finish off a plain grey jumper that I started in January.  It is knitted in a lovely yarn called Alpaca dk by Stylecraft.  It is 20% alpaca and 80% acrylic.  This means it is soft and easy to knit with.

I have some yarn left-over on purpose as I bought too much so that I can use it as a background colour for a modular knit that I am going to start on soon.

I am not that keen on knitting plain jumpers but I decided that I had to because I couldn’t find anything suitable in the shops.  You might ask why I want a boring plain jumper but I find them useful to work in. 

Patchwork Throw II

It has taken me about 6 weeks but I have finally finished my latest patchwork throw.

 

I am very pleased with the result.  I visualise how something will look and sometimes it turns out how I intended!

 

Horst Schulz – Patchwork Knitting and New Patchwork Knitting – Fashion for Children

 

These books were both published in English in 2000, but in my opinion they still remain the best books on the subject of modular knitting.  They are no good if you like lots of detailed instructions on how to knit a garment - but if you are happy to look at the photographs and the diagrams illustrating how to achieve a particular effect – then they are inspirational.  I have never completely copied a design but I have used several of the ideas.

Both books concentrate on jumpers, waistcoats and jackets.  Presumably as Horst is male he isn’t as interested in bags as I am!  I also like trying out modules by making scarves or cushion covers.

Why Choose Modular Knitting?

I particularly like modular knitting because I like using odd balls.  It may be odd balls of the same yarn.  I can’t decide which colour to choose so I buy one ball of each, or I have collected odd balls of lots of different yarns which are a similar colour and want to use them to make something.

Sometimes I look at a ball of multi-coloured yarn and think it is beautiful – and then I knit with it and don’t like the result.  If you are using modular knitting is seems easier to manipulate the yarn to make the colours combine how you want them to.

 

This photo shows part of a jumper that was knitted using modular knitting with one colour-way of yarn.  If I had just done stocking stitch – it would have turned out stripy.  I like the blocks of colour that blend into each other.

You don’t really need a pattern for modular knitting.  If I am knitting a jumper – I use an existing jumper that fits me as a guide to how many modular I need to make for the width and length etc.  The first module or couple of modules are my tension gauge.

I often have a problem with sleeves as I have short arms – it is very easy to lengthen the sleeves or lengthen the body of a garment by adding some more modules or just a band of contrasting knitting.

I think the main reason that I love modular knitting is that it is very creative and allows me to experiment with lots of colours and lots of yarns.