A Sweater for my Man - Christmas Present WIP

Soon, it's gonna be Christmas. That means: another new project for me, aaaand it's a BIG one!
A self-designed sweater for my man :)

It is his wish for this year that I knit a sweater for my man. And the sweater's got some requirements to fulfill.

First thing: It should be very very very soft and cozy. So, I suggested some kinds of yarn that meet his first requirement. He made his choice, and dark gray Baby Merino yarn from Garnstudio Drops it is! :)
There was a sale on this yarn some months ago. And that's when I bought it. So I saved some money there - yay! (you know, merino yarn is not the cheapest kind of yarn, but anyway, it's worth it! :) )

His next wishes were, the sweater should have a hood, a zipper and should be mainly made in stockinette.
And that's what I made from this:

Here is a quick sketch of the sweater how I want to make it. Yes, I am not a drawing artist, but you can see the principle.
It's gonna be a raglan shaped, hodded sweater and it's going to have a diagonal zipper in the upper front.
I am knitting the main body part in stockinette (like he wanted, even though I showed him some very nice, kind of bold cables, that are very masculine in my opinion, but he still wants the stockinette. And that's fine with me, 'cause that's what he wants and likes :) )
The sleeves will be in ribbing. I think I'll use some broiche stich ribbing.
For the neckline and hood I'm thinking about using reverse stockinette, but I'll have to see how it looks when I've reached that point.




I am knitting this sweater in the round from the bottom up.
So, I took this picture when I started with the ribbing at the bottom of the sweater. I am using 3mm circular needles here.
I had to buy new ones, because during the project I worked on before the sweater, the needles broke! Can you believe that?! Has that happened to anyone of you before? It definately was a sad little moment for me... especially since I had only 3 rows left on that project... :(

Here is a picture of my broken needle... I'd never thought I am using that much force while knitting! ;)






And that's how far I am now with the sweater. For the main body part I am now using 4mm circular needles. I've knitted a little more than 30 cm. And I think it looks pretty nice! :)

I've never knitted a raglan shaped sweater before, so I'm excited to do that now! :) Learning something new with every project - love that! :)












To make my life easier when designing knitted items, I am using Excel for all the calculations that are made and that do not have to be invented again every time you plan a knitted piece.
Excel is a really handy tool for calculating knitting, like many of you probably know. I will explain and show you more of that and how I am using Excel for calculating knitted pieces in my next WIP Wednesday post.
So, stay tuned if you're interested! :)

I wish you a wonderful day everyone!
Love,
Stefanie