Hi Everyone.

I'm new here! I found this site when searching for "knitting help". I'm a new knitter since last September. I've made a million scarves, an afghan, a sweater tank top and one sock (thou shalt not knit socks ever again, even though my one sock is so cute!) I taught myself through books so I don't have that one on one help. I have now come across a problem that I can't find an answer to:

How do I increase the size of a sweater? I have the book The Yarn Girls Guide To Simple Knits. I "was" attempting to knit teh "he'll wear it everyday" sweater on page 119, but I realized that the measurements would not be big enough for the person I am knitting it for. I'd like to increase the size to an XL but my cast on is either a choice of 78 (82, 84). Now, I know enough to know that is S/M/L with no XL provided.

Any smart people out there that can give me a quick rundown on how to do this? I know it can be done, but I don't want to screw it up.

Thanks much, for any help any can provide!

Kris

Kris, a really simple way without having to do alot of calculations is to use a larger needle and or change the yarn size (meaning if they say use dk weight, you can use worsted weight). This way you won't drive yourself crazy with calculations. Make a gauge swatch first to make sure you won't be too far off the mark.

Eva

Eva's advice is probably the easiest way to go. Your other option would be to test the stitch gauge on your yarn choice, figure out how many stitches you're knitting to the inch, and multiply that by the inches you want the sweater to be, and that's how many stitches to make the sweater. The only problem with this method (beyond all of that yucky math!) is that then you have to adjust accordingly at the sleeve and neck cast-offs.

Hope that helps,
Becky