Why I'll never go back to knitting sweaters in pieces again
”I remember my first sweater project almost like it was yesterday. If only I had known then what I know now about knitting,” writes Meiju Kallio, Executive Content Producer at Kotona and known as knit designer Meiju Knits.
I was 14 or 15 when I knitted my first sweater that I had designed myself. I made it in separate pieces simply because I didn't know any other way. Front piece separate, back piece separate, sleeves separate. The pieces ended up slightly different sizes and shapes, but somehow I managed to cobble them together into a sweater. However, I had to thread a hidden elastic band into the neckline, just to make it sit right.
My greatest knitting epiphany came in the early 2010s when I discovered Ravelry and seamless, top-down sweaters and cardigans. It suddenly clicked that knitting a sweater or cardigan could actually be easier than knitting a sock.
I design all my cardigans and sweaters from the top down, working them seamlessly as one piece.
Nowadays, I wouldn't dream of knitting a sweater in separate pieces. Instead, I design all my cardigans and sweaters from the top down, working them seamlessly as one piece. This approach means thinking about the garment's three-dimensional shape right from the planning stage and figuring out how to knit it without seams. One huge advantage of top-down knitting is being able to try on your work as you go. Once you get comfortable reading top-down patterns, you'll find it much easier to tweak them to fit your own body perfectly. With the right cast-on techniques, you can also make exactly the neckline you want.
I've occasionally designed bottom-up garments too, but still as one piece. The techniques are just a bit different – you might use three-needle bind-offs or pick up stitches around the armholes.
I sometimes run into knitters on social media who make their sweaters and cardigans in pieces, sew them together, and then criticize one-piece knitters for poor sewing skills. I'll admit it – I really can't sew seams that well! I'm constantly amazed by how some people can align the pieces so perfectly that not a single seam pulls or pinches. They're truly skilled. But that's the beauty of knitting: everyone can do it their own way.
These days, I don't even sew on buttons – I knit them right onto the piece. But that's a story for another time.
