Ok, so sweaters might not be the first project on your mind to knit during spring and summer.
Sipping lemonade on the porch sounds great, as long as it doesn’t involve half a fleece of sheep’s wool on my lap.
But I would argue this is the BEST time to knit a sweater. If you finish it during summer then you’ll have it ready once the cold weather comes again.
And there are plenty of light weight sweaters made from fibers that won’t give you heat stroke.
Not convinced?
Well here are FIVE reasons why knitting a sweater is the best project ever!
It’s a great challenge
I learned to knit because I wanted to knit a sweater.
And I wanted to knit a sweater because I wanted to challenge myself.
If you’re like me, I viewed making my own sweater as the pinnacle of knitting achievement. To some extent I still hold that belief.
Knitting a sweater pulls together all the essential skills a knitter needs to know.
Gauge, shaping, fixing mistakes, seaming, etc. You need them all to finish a sweater.
Plus there are many levels of difficulty between sweater patterns.
If you’re just starting, you can make something simple.
More advanced? Tackle an intarsia laden cardigan with lots of finishing details.
Regardless of your skill level, there’s always a more challenging option out there.
It’s also big investment in resources and time.
Which leads us to our next reason…
It teaches patience
Knitting a sweater takes a while.
Depending on the complexity of the pattern and the weight of yarn, it can take more than 35 hours to make.
Some people can get it done in two weeks, and others might take years to finish.
That all depends on how consistently you work on the sweater.
Either way, it’s not going to happen over night. You have to be committed to the process if you want to succeed.
To do that will take patience, which is a skill that can translate to many areas in your life. Not only knitting.
It’s relatively cost effective
There’s a common misconception that it’s cheaper to buy knits at the big box store in the mall.
Sure you can grab a simple stockinette sweater at Wal-Mart for $25, or maybe even less.
However, that sweater is going to be poorly made out of VERY cheap materials that aren’t going to last.
A nice (but boring) sweater from J. Crew is going to cost around $150.
You could knit yourself something more interesting with higher quality yarn. And it would only cost about $100.
True, it will take more time to knit than going to the store to buy a sweater.
But that extra effort only makes the sweater more meaningful to you.
Oh and if you were to hire someone to hand knit you a sweater, expect it to cost upwards of $450!
It’s incredibly useful
I have quite a few sweaters in my closet.
Why?
Because I like the way they look when they’re all nicely hung up?
Of course not!
I fold my sweaters on a shelf.
But really, it’s because I like to wear sweaters.
In fact I have a couple favorite sweaters that I wear all the time.
Contrast that with my knitted hats, which I only wear one or two of depending on how cold it is.
I may not need another hat any time soon, but I can always use a new sweater.
You get to make it your own
One of a biggest reasons we hand knit is we get to direct the process.
We choose the pattern. We (usually) choose the yarn.
We choose the colors and make adjustments and embellish and tweak and get that sweater just the way we want it.
Participating in something like our Sweater Knitting Weekend can make process that easier.
But the amount of variety and customization you can come up with is WAY beyond what you can buy at the store.
When you finish that sweater, you’ll have an immense sense of pride. That’s because YOU made it exactly the way YOU wanted.
Conclusion
So there you have it.
Those are our reasons you should knit a sweater.
But what do you think?
Did we miss something?
Do you think another type of project is superior?
Hit reply and share your thoughts with us!
We’d love to hear your feedback. 😊