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This Sweater is the “final test” for the Sweater Workshop Sampler project from the same book. I STRONGLY encourage every knitter to make the Sampler whether you care to knit a sweater, ever, or not! It looks like a silly project but the skills and confidence it engenders is more than worth the time it takes to construct. It starts off boring and slow for more experienced knitters, but many many people have been surprised how much they’ve learned even with the ribbing sections at the beginning. Seriously… this is a “knitting school” project; you won’t believe all the key skills and techniques you’ll obtain!

Once you’ve completed the Sampler, you’ll feel like you can knit almost anything and certainly that you have the core skills to tackle and competently knit a sweater. Once you’ve done just these two projects from this book, there won’t be many projects at all that won’t feel within your reach to tackle! I do not exaggerate.

I used two skeins of royal blue and three skeins of dark teal of yarn I already had on hand and approached my first sweater with the same sense of “this is a learning project” with which I approached The Sampler from this same book. I was surprised that I could make a whole sweater, oversized no less, with only five skeins of cheap yarn and have plenty to spare!

The only problems I had were at the places I didn’t pay attention to what I was doing and/or didn’t completely read through ALL the instructions before doing the next part. And, of course, the normal dropped stitch here or there. But the entire project was drama-free and one I won’t hesitate to do any sweater from this book again. My next sweater, though, may be a top-down sweater, simply because learning to make sweaters bottom-up in one piece was so satisfying I want to expand my knowledge base!

I used the Raglan Sleeveline E because otherwise the whole sweater was just too boring for words. I intentionally made the sweater big with extra long sleeves… a “boyfriend” style sweater. Because I was using an acrylic yarn I wouldn’t otherwise particularly care to use for garments, I wasn’t overly focused on “fashion.” I plan to wear a turtleneck top under it because I expect it to be a more “utilitarian” sweater and I wanted it loose and extra comfy.

I will need more work on necklines… picking up and working the neck ribbing. And I still struggle with Kitchener Stitch/Grafting… but that’s a neuro-processing thing, not because it’s actually hard to do. I simply have to pay closer attention to what I’m doing to do it successfully.

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with the end result. I plan to make the Knit Picks Classic Line Cardigan at some point. More new techniques to master. :-)

Feb 2011 Update: I’ve worn this sweater everywhere for three winters now. It is one of my favorite sweaters because it is so comfortable… and because I made it myself. :-) Making the Sampler and this sweater has had a transformational impact on my knitting confidence and freedom. I am now designing projects and patterns, and I credit the confidence to consider selling my patterns to these two projects! I simply cannot recommend this book and these two projects, in sequence, highly enough! Even if you never knit a sweater, I would still recommend this book for the “knitting school in a book” the Sampler project, alone, represents!

Feb 2012 Update:
Check out my SECOND Sweater Workshop sweater! :-) And please note… it is my second-ever sweater. My next sweater will be a topdown-seamless design because I want to see how I like that construction, but I will definitely make more Sweater Workshop sweater designs… other than working from the topdown-seamless, I’m not sure I’d ever want to knit a sweater in pieces. Being able to quickly and easily try it on as you go so you can correct the fit or the design as you go just makes the most sense to me.