No, the sweater’s not called Sunday, though I think there is a sweater pattern called the Sunday Sweater. I’m just working on it on Sunday. I decided yesterday I was ready to start my Turtle Dove II. As you remember, I was pondering whether to knit the gray first or the teal, and I went with gray since it will be such a nice backdrop for all my purple shawls. I wound the first skein, gathered up all the needles, and prepared to swatch.
That’s a good swatch, right? Yes, since it starts with the neck, and is designed to fit loosely, I threw caution to the wind and just cast on! The pattern says to go down two needle sizes for the turtleneck, but based on advice from a friend who’s made a couple I went down just one. This morning, I put it on waste yarn so I could check gauge of the stockinette section and, more importantly, check the fit of the neck. I don’t want it TOO snug.
Results were mixed: my gauge is good, but the neck was a tad more snug than I’d like. Because I want to love this sweater and wear it all the time, I’m going to frog and start over, going up one more needle size for the neck. And see, this worked out well, because a gauge swatch never would have told me how I felt about the neck size, so doing it this way killed two birds with one stone! And it’s Aran weight yarn that knits up quickly, so I’m not losing much in the way of time.
Disclaimer: I do normally swatch for sweaters! Swatching is good and important. Except when you get better data just by casting on.
Happy Sunday, friends.
bonnyknits 
I’ll enjoy watching you work on this one. I do love a good gray sweater.
You know, I’ve wanted to knit one for a while but was afraid I’d get bored knitting all gray. Hopefully this one will go fast enough that I won’t!
Oh goodness. We are having a similar experience for our first sweater of 2023. I just ripped out my Sea Glass tee after completing the first few inches of the tee. The crew neck was much more of a turtleneck which is not what I was looking for in a tee. I do love how the grey is knitting up.
Oh dear! I hope your second attempt goes better!
I look forward to seeing this progress. I love sweaters where it is just as easy to cast on and rip back if the gauge is off.
I also love sweaters in thicker yarn that grow quickly! 😀
They often throw me for a loop. as I convince myself I can knit any sweater in two weeks.
What, you can’t?? 😉
This was a great idea to check you like the fit. I’m not a big swatcher…I’m more of a knit it and see…then knit a 2nd and 3rd thus avoiding the need to swatch for something new 😂🤣
Haha, I totally get that if you love how it fits! I hope I love mine that much!
That’s a really convenient swatch! I also really appreciate it when designers get creative with their swatches… I know they’re important, but I will admit to generally being bored while knitting them.
I now feel the need for a gray sweater. I’ve only knit myself more colorful ones so far. Maybe when I’m done with my current sweater? (At least my current sweater is using long-term stash yarn, so I can feel good about it in that respect.)
Yes swatches are very boring!! I wonder if they’re more boring because we’re just excited to get to the real sweater-knitting bit? You should definitely feel good about using long-term stash!
I’d say that’s probably what bugs me the most about swatches. I don’t want to be knitting a little square; I want to be knitting the sweater!
Great swatching plan! And you are right – just a plain swatch would not tell you how you felt about the fit of the neck, so this worked out really well. That is a great color, and it looks so cozy already!!
Thanks, Marilee! It’s gonna be SO COZY!!
Yeah it will!