The First Sweater I Have Ever Made

For the last few years, my dad had been asking me to make him a sweater, as he knew I was a knitter and crocheter.

I never got around to it, mainly because I wanted to focus on school (I graduated last year). And, I was apprehensive about making a sweater, as I had never made one before.

At the beginning of this month, I finally bit the bullet, and bought the supplies to make one, and got started.

There were two stitches in the pattern I used (this one), that I had never done before, so I looked up how to on YouTube. The stitches are front post double crochet, and back post double crochet.

It took me a few tries, but I was able to figure out the stitches, and I got the hang of it.

These stitches were for the ribbing on the bottom of the body, and on the ends of the sleeves.

I started out with the back piece of the body, and I was having a hard time with that piece at first. I figured out I wasn't reading it right, and got it after a few days.

Then it was on to the front, which was a little different than the back. 

I had to figure out how to do the arm and shoulder shaping, so it confused me at first (I don't know why). But it suddenly clicked one day, and I was good to go after that.

Back

Front

Front on the left, back on the right

Once I finished the front and back pieces, I moved on to the sleeves. 

Once again, I was having a hard time with the pattern for the sleeves, for whatever reason.

I got the ribbing part, but the rest was proving difficult. But, as with the body, I was able to figure out how to work the sleeves, and got them done in a few days.

One of the finished sleeves

After about two weeks, I finished all of the pieces, (to be honest, it took less time than I thought it would), and I am happy with how they turned out.

All of the finished pieces

It took me another week or so to sew all the pieces together, as well as making the neckband, but that was only because I was procrastinating on doing so.

But, I finished it on Christmas eve, which I was so happy about.

I gave the sweater to my dad for Christmas, and he put it on after everyone opened up all of our gifts.

The whole thing turned out a lot better than I expected, but to be honest, I am glad it's finished. There was a lot of learning, frustration, and redoing parts of it, and I am glad I got it done.

The only thing is, the neckband is way too wide, so I will have to fix that somehow.

Otherwise, my dad says it fits perfectly, and he loves it. I am relieved, and happy, that it came out as well as it did and that he loves it.

And that I finally made the darn thing.

Now that I know I can make a sweater, I am more confident in my abilities, and will definitely be making more big projects in the future.