Always wanted to knit a Birkin sweater. Love the delicate and feminine touch of the yoke design.

I chose to knit Birkin for my March colorwork project. I enjoyed knitting this sweater, although I found it challenging to manage 3 colors together at times.

My gauge is 26 st and 36 rows in 10cm stockinette stitch with 3.00mm needles, so I adjusted needles required for this sweater as follows:

Cast-on needles: 2.75mm
Ribbing needles: 2.50mm
Main gauge needles: 3.00mm
Colorwork needles: 3.25mm
Body shaping needles: 3.50mm

March 3, 2021

• Cast on 120 st for a wider neck opening with 2.75mm needles.
• Knitted 6 rounds of (k2, p2) ribbing with 2.50mm needles.
• First Increase rnd: inc 36st to a total of 156st with 3.00mm needles.

March 4

• Short row shaping as per pattern
• Second increase for Size S as per pattern, 210st.

March 5-15
Colorwork

• Switched to 3.50mm needles for colorwork sections
• After 3rd Increase round, front measured 3” from CO edge.
• At end of Chart 2, front measured 8.5” from CO edge.
• Skipped knit-around, did 4th Increase round and separated body and sleeves before Chart 3.

March 16-27
Body

• knit-around once then began Chart 3.
• At end of Chart 3, front measured 10”.
• Switched to 3mm needles and knitted the body until the front measured 22.5”.
• Instead of changing needle size, I added 4st inc each in body round 35, 50 and 65 to achieve the A-line shape.

March 27-29
Sleeves

• With 3.25mm needles, picked up underarm CO stitches per pattern, followed by 9 rounds as in Chart 3
• Switched to 3mm needles and knitted the rest of the sleeves per pattern.

March 30
After blocking and drying, the sweater measures:
Front length: 21.5”
Neck circumference: 17.5”
Chest circumference : 35”
Hip circumference: 42”
Underarm to hip: 15”
Sleeve length: 12.5”
Sleeve circumference upper: 11”
Sleeve circumference lower: 7”

Note to self:
If I knit another Birkin using the same yarn, I would not go up a needle size for the colorwork since I find I tend to knit more loosely with colorwork. I would also knit the next size for a looser fit in the chest.