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This is the Toddler Tunic lesson, and I have chosen this pattern to teach as a sweater
pattern because I think it’s a really good first sweater for anybody who wants to start
knitting sweaters.
It’s small – it’s a baby size, of course, it’s made out of worsted weight, but it
incorporates so many features you’re going to see in sweater patterns throughout your
knitting career.
In fact, this little sweater is really not any different from the sweater that Anne Boleyn
is wearing, or the sweater that I’m wearing.
All three are top down raglans, and use the exact same technique for knitting.
So, if you can get through this, moving on to something bigger, like either one of these
ladies sweaters is not a problem.
So, to get started, well, first you’re going to need a pattern.
The pattern for this sweater is available for purchase and download at verypink.com.
So if you visit my website you’ll see it there, you can jump over, get the pattern,
pay for it, and come back here, and we’ll knit the sweater together.
So the first thing you need is your pattern and your yarn and your needles, and that’s
all explained in the pattern.
And you’re going to cast on the number of stitches that the pattern tells you to cast
Then we’re going to start with seed stitch.
And so, for the first 5 rows of the pattern, we’re working seed stitch.
You can see here that it’s kind of a bumpy stitch – it has an interesting texture to
it.
And this is worked with knit 1, purl 1, knit 1, purl 1 all the way across.
And each row you alternate the knits and the purls.
If you were to line up the knits and the purls, you would end up with something like the sleeves
here on Anne Boleyn, in ribbing.
So we’re knocking everything off by 1.
So let me show you what this looks like.
This stitch, because it’s a “V”, that’s a knit stitch. This stitch next to it that
looks like it has a scarf around it’s neck, that’s a purl.
So I’m going to purl the knits and knit the purls.
Like this.
Purl the knit, knit the purl.
Purl the knit, knit the purl.
All the way across.
And I have designed this pattern with an odd number of cast-on stitches for every size.
So that you always start with a knit on every row.
So you’re going to do that for 5 rows.
And then on the last row you will follow the pattern to place these markers.
You’re going to place 4 markers at different intervals, each size is different so you’re
going to want to follow the pattern.
You’re going to place these markers at different intervals for different sizes, and what those
are is this.
The raglan increases on both the front and the back.
Because a raglan sweater is really so awesome the way it’s set up, the way the human body
is shaped and fit.
So this is our cast on row here. And we’re going to increase at these 4 points where
we have the markers, and that looks like this.
And we’re eventually going to get to a spot where we have the sleeves and the body all
on the needles, but we’ve gotten big enough so that the sweater will fit under the arms
at this point right here.
Then we’re going to divide for the sleeves – this will all make sense when we go through
it, each piece, finish the body and go back and knit the sleeves.
So.
Here we are with our markers like this.
And so for the first half of the sweater, you’re going to be knitting the sleeves
and the body all at once.
The first 5 stitches are going to remain in seed stitch, so I start with knit, purl, knit,
purl, knit.
Let me just show you that. That’s this border right here.
And now we’re going to move into stockinette stitch.
So we continue knitting, up until the stitch before the first marker that we placed.
And we’re going to knit front back, or KFB into this stitch.
Put your needle in and do a normal knit stitch, without pulling this old stitch off the left
needle.
You swing the tip of your needle around to the back of that stitch, wrap it and pull
it through.
Then you just slip that stitch marker over, and KFB into the next stitch.
You’re going to keep doing that every time you come to a marker.
4 times around.
So that is an increase row.
The wrong side row, the purl side row are just purl – work seed stitch border on the
first and last 5 stitches, and then just purl the rest of the stitches.
And that is it.
Keep working as many increases the pattern tells you to for your size, and I’ll see
you back here when it’s time to divide for the sleeves.
[music]