Elizabeth wearing the jumper I knitted for her

My first ever knitted garment

I finished my first ever knitted garment last night. I started it at the beginning of the new year and have been working on it everyday since then. I usually knit in the evenings after dinner while watching TV.

I rewatched the entire collection of Downton Abbey plus the two movies which is apparently 56 hours worth but it would have been more than that as I’ve watched other things as well or not at all so it wasn’t a quick job. But I am a newbie and did have to pull it apart and restart a few times at the beginning since I had no idea what I was doing. I probably should have started with something simpler like a scarf but I’m pleased to have made a new jumper for Elizabeth and here she is modelling it.

Elizabeth modelling the jumper and laughing

The neckline and hem was meant to have a scalloped knitted edge but I struggled to do it and eventually thought bugger this, I’m going to crochet it instead which I did and it was much easier.

My father reminded me this week that when I was little he taught my sister and me how to knit. I asked him why he did that and he said it was because he thought we might want to learn girly type things since he and my mother were separated and we spent most of our time with him so he was worried we’d miss out. He couldn’t knit himself before then but learnt a couple of basic stitches just to show us.

I’ve now told both children they’ll be having a knitting lesson on the weekend whether they like it or not. I firmly believe that if you learn something as a child then decide at age 50 to pick it up again it’ll be much easier than had you never been exposed to it as a kid. I think I may have received another knitting lesson from my step-mother as a teenager when she came onto the scene and then a few years ago my mother-in-law gave me one too. And of course YouTube has been a big help for all the new stitches I’d never encountered before. Now I love it and will be knitting for the rest of my life.

Posted

February 9, 2023

Journal

Rachel M

Tags:

garment, jumper, knitting

Comments

7 responses to “My first ever knitted garment”

JenT

February 9, 2023

Fantastic!

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1. Rachel M
  
  February 9, 2023
  
  Thank you!
  
  Reply
apeacefultree

February 9, 2023

This is so impressive for your very first knitted garment! Very pretty.

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1. Rachel M
  
  February 9, 2023
  
  Thanks! I’m going to make one for myself next. Elizabeth says she doesn’t mind if we have matching jumpers.
  
  Reply
Katrina

February 9, 2023

I’m almost inspired to take up knitting again. I have to get past my reluctance to use wool, because of how I know it’s harvested. Synthetic yarns are awful for the environment, so I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place at the moment. I’m working on it 🙂

Reply
1. Rachel M
  
  February 10, 2023
  
  I understand completely. I can’t stand synthetic fibres. They’re not just bad for the environment they’re also awful to work with. Wool is much nicer. You can also get cotton and bamboo but I still prefer wool.
  
  I try to buy British wool only because the sheep here still have their tails and animal welfare standards are good. My favourite is British Blue-faced Leicester which is what this jumper is. You can also pull apart old jumpers and re-use the yarn. I do that sometimes. Or buy a jumper from the charity shop and re-use the yarn. It can be time-consuming pulling them apart though but if the yarn is good it’s worth it.
  
  Reply
Denise

February 12, 2023

I can’t remember if I said, I found both my kids knitting away recently and I said how do you know how to do that?? And they both said I taught them when they were small, they hadn’t been interested for a while, but now had got back into it. I’d forgotten I’d even done them, but I think you are right that things stick better when learnt as a child, I hope the kids appreciate the lessons.
The first thing I noticed when I saw the picture how nice the finishing was, the neck and the hems. Also the join between the arms and body. It is a very nice fit.

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