Knitware is an awesome program that calculates a pattern for a variety of garments, using your gauge rather than having to match the pattern gauge. It is a pattern generator & can make pretty much any type sweater that you want. I use it a lot. I bought mine from Janet T. She did a great job of designing a simple product that is easy to use & has the ability to save & alter patterns in the program. I like to knit sweaters using her program, but there are a couple of things that are easier done a little differently than what she describes. Sometimes I use the program to knit a top down sweater with drop sleeve. I like to rehang the front & back of the sweater on the machine between markers after joining the front & back & finishing the neckline, & knit my sleeves directly onto the sweater. In Janet's patterns she suggests that you knit the ribbing for the sleeve seperatly after taking the top down sleeve off the machine on waste yarn. I find that it works better & is less bulky when you knit the ribbing directly onto the sleeves by transferring stitches for ribbing & then using the 'loop through loop' bind of that is demonstrated here in Diana Sullivan's Utube video. Once you get the bind off learned you will find that this bind off works for a lot of garments. The thing to remember is to knit the last row at a very loose tension in order to have a loose finished rib.
This is another raglan for the women's shelter, size 2. I was requested to make some smaller sizes. I have a lot of fun making these & rarely I see someone wearing one out & about.
This is the bin I am working on right now. I have managed to make a pretty good dent in it. I didn't buy any yarn this year other than yarn for my store. I still have quite a lot of yarn in bins in the garage & am working on them one at a time. Rather than go find a specific yarn for a specific sweater I have just been making sweaters with the yarn available in that bin. I have small bits of yarn left over so am making some little mittens out of it. Then I am going to knit up squares that are left from that & make a toddler blanket from it.
This has been a rough year for me. I have lost 3 pets, my cat that I ran over, my small female Australian cattle dog Jasmine to breast cancer & just this month my 7 year old male border collie Buster to cardiomyopathy. I am comforted by the knowledge that I did my best for them, lots of love & a warm bed along with good food.
