Advice with knit sweater i want to copy. *with pics*

[spirals420]

ok this beautiful girl came into my work a few weeks ago and she was wearing an AMAZING sweater. store bought.
 pics.

closer look at cuff


it has an off center zipper, and the collar and the cuffs are knit sideways... and it has buttons. and what looks like a i-cord edging for the zipper... oh and the back is just plain.

i think im going to omit the popcorn/bobble stitch, i am not as thin as she is and i think it wouldnt be as figure flattering to have lumps on me... but a girl at the yarn store recommended maybe double moss stitch.. i like that idea..

another question i have is i want to make this as easy as possible... and i know the formulas for top down raglans but i think it would be nice bottom up... then i can just knit the sleeve cuffs and pick up stitches and go up from there... but im a little intimidated by arm hole shaping and such...

ok, lots o questions... i know... but its an amazing sweater.  um what else... oh im knitting it with a really pretty deep green/blue color. chunky weight. the name of the yarn is forgotten at the moment but i shall update...

anywho. just thought i would show off this wonderful sweater and see if any of you folk have ideas...

thanks for looking!

Modified to add-
this is the  color. almost accurate... it is a little darker then this i would say


and the yarn is Cascade Pastaza....

[rebeccajane]

Way cool. From the pictures, it kind of looks like it has some saddle-shoulder stuff going on. Though I'm with you with making it as simple as possible. Sounds like you've knit raglans from the top down, but never from the bottom up? Do yourself a favor and find a pattern for a basic bottom up raglan and you'll see that there's no sleeve shaping to be done- it's just like top down, except you shape with decreases instead of increases. (The only bottom up pattern I can think of off hand is the Hourglass sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.)

In any case, please post some updates when you get into it. The sweater looks awesome and I can't wait to see what you do with it!

[spirals420]

good call on the saddle shoulder shaping... i got elizabeth zimmermans book with a saddle shoulder pattern thingy in it.. maybe i can do that... but this bottom up ragla sounds great too.. i LOVE decreasing!
thanks for the input! and i will be sure to update... here and ravelry!

[aunt carrot]

Wow, that is one awesome sweater! You also have my respect for asking someone to let you take pictures of her sweater--I usually just stare, get caught, and stammer excuses. The Hourglass Sweater is a good pattern (I love mine) but it's for worsted weight so you'd have to do some math. Maybe try an EZ saddle-shoulder? Those are bottom-up (but also require math, I guess...)

[Riki]

I would definitely do the EZ saddle shoulder - and as for the math ... isn't that what Excel is for (as someone somewhere said and I agree!) ...

I would also do the stitches as written - I don't think they "add weight" but they do add a lot to the sweater. You can do smaller bobbles - I did one once that was over three rows - increase in one row, purl back through it and then k3 together on the third row. Smaller bobbles but still there, adding definition to the pattern. I like how they're like every other row type of thing.

[aunt carrot]

Whoa, how do you use Excel to change gauge???

[spirals420]

Whoa, how do you use Excel to change gauge???

i second this question.

and also. i want to thank everyone for their input. im still not at the "ready to start stage" so all of this insight is great. i hope it keeps coming..

[aunt carrot]

Oh my stars and garters, I LOVE Cascade Pastaza! This is going to be one awesome sweater.

[spirals420]

Oh my stars and garters, I LOVE Cascade Pastaza! This is going to be one awesome sweater.

i have never used it... but now i am SO very excited! thank you for for making me so much MORE excited... any recommendations on a needle size to use for a nice gauge for the sweater?

[Riki]

Whoa, how do you use Excel to change gauge???

You don't really CHANGE gauge, you adjust the pattern to fit your gauge - you make EZ's sweaters using her EPS system - adjusting everything to YOUR gauge with YOUR yarn and YOUR needle size. Quite straightforward - I haven't worked up the formulas yet - need to for one sweater I'll be doing along with her video soon. Hmmm, maybe that something I can do this afternoon as work is quite slack ...

(opening XL)