KAL & Sweater Update: Striped Sweater Knitting Project

Just when I needed it, Shannon announced her Spring/Summer Tops & Tees Knit-A-Long.  This KAL has given me just the push I needed to finally start my striped sweater project that I talked about here.  I've made good progress so far.  As you can see, I've knitted up past my little pocket that I've pinned closed for now.  The red yarn is holding the stitches for the front of my pocket so I can go back and put a ribbed rim on it.

So here's what I've done and where I'm headed:

1.  I started the front and back as separate pieces from the bottom with k2p2 ribbing.

2.  I made the ribbing on the front about 2 inches deep, and about 2 3/4 inches on the back for a longer tail.  Not sure why, but I want this top to have a (very) slight boxy look and I wanted a longer hem in the back.

3.  Then I switched to my stripes.  After the first stripe, I joined the front and the back and will knit the rest in the round to the armpits.

4.  I've made my stripes wider than I initially planned.  My wide stripe is 9 rounds, and my two thinner stripes are 3 rounds. 

5.  I laid out my color progression before I started, but have been making tweaks as I go.  I will probably have a lot fewer colors left by the time I get past the chest, so the upper part may be a solid color.  And the sleeves may only have a couple of stripes.  I'm okay with this.  We'll just have to see what I have to work with.

6.  Still planning to make this top short-sleeved, but haven't worked out the details yet.  Should be at the armpits by next week and will share what my plan is for the sleeves then. 

Wish me luck!

Starting Out: Striped Sweater Knitting Pattern

Probably like a lot of knitters, I have a big pile of random skeins of yarn left over from other knitting projects.  I've decided to pull together my skeins of dk yarn and design a striped sweater to use up some (most? all?) of my leftovers (I have more than what's pictured above).  My plan is:

1.  To design a short-sleeved striped sweater.

2.  I'm going to start the bottom as two pieces (front and back) to create slits on the sides, then join it and knit it in the round to the armpits.

3.  The stripes are going to be varied, as I have different amounts of each color, but I'll follow the pattern of one wider stripe then two thinner ones (6 rounds for the thicker stripe, two rounds for the thinner ones).

4.  I'm going to include a little pocket on the front (I think), because I've never done a pocket before.

5.  I want to incorporate these cute buttons in the sweater,  I plan to use one as a closure on my pocket, and one as a little detail on the collar.

6.  I haven't exactly figured out the sleeves yet, but they'll just be your basic short sleeve with a rib edge.

I hope blogging about this project as I go will make me start this sweater and stop just thinking about it :)  For some reason, I just can't get motivated to start.  Wish me luck!