Glamour Jacket Knit-Along: It’s Collar Time!

Editor’s note: There’s still time to get your Knit-Along Kit, get your kit here now – there are four to choose from! Also we have a hashtag for this KAL, use #LBspringKAL2015 when you share your progress on social media. Have fun!

Hello my fellow knitters! It’s Kristy Glass here and I’m hoping you’re having fun so far!

Even though I have completed several sweaters, I still consider myself a newbie in the sweater department. I love to choose patterns that have something new or something challenging so that my skills get better.

After I read through this pattern I noticed that the main piece — sleeves and neckband — was a shape that I had not knit before! Immediately I felt intimidated, so I took comfort in beginning with the collar. There is nothing like some lovely garter stitches to get me feeling comfortable! I am very glad I started here for two reasons: 1) I made an entire piece of the project without having to frog anything and; 2) seeing the fabric I made motivated me to want to move on to the next part of the pattern!

I am new to swatching, and even though my last few sweaters have fit me correctly (after taking the time to correctly swatch), I still doubt myself as a knitter. For this reason, I chose to leave my collar live, instead of binding off. I have fears that when I go to put it all together it will be too long or too short. Rather than unpick the bind-off (which I have had to do before and MAN that is a pain!), I chose to slip my stitches onto a stitch holder and leave a long tail. Now I can quickly bind off when the time comes to construct my sweater, or rip out a row or two if I need to! If you lose steam on this project, at least you know that you now have a nice striped scarfie complete! HA!

Do you like how my crazy pink and purples are coming together? As I knit this collar I kept thinking of the cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland! I have a feeling I am going to be returning to these two Vanna’s Glamour colorways for future costume work!

I knit the collar on some circular 9 needles I had lying around, but have resolved to complete the rest of the sweater on 14” straights. I am enjoying the straight needles very much as I rarely knit on straights anymore, it has been a nice change.

I would love to hear from you! How did the swatching go? What needles are you using? What colors did you order? Don’t forget to head over to the Ravelry group where we are doing a lot of chatting! See you soon! Never stop Knitting!

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I am Kristy Glass and I am so thrilled to be infiltrating the Lion Brand blog to lead you in the 2015 Spring Knit Along! Even though I learned to knit as a girl, my passion for fiber arts has escalated at a very steep rate these past several years. I returned to knitting and began crocheting about 8 years ago after I suffered an unexpected health setback leaving me feeling completely out of control. Hand work was a healing salve for my body and soul as I suffered through a long healing process. Thankfully I continue to use knitting to aid meditation, solace and a feeling of accomplishment. I knit year round, despite weather changes, and I am highly anticipating us all knitting together on this project. I have completed over 100 projects including scarves, cowls, hats, hand warmers, phone cozies, afghans, pillows, sweaters and yarn bombing. My most recent passion has been making sweaters and actually wearing what I make!