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This article assumes you know how to cast on, knit, purl, increase, decrease, and cast off



  1. 1
    Cast on 15 to 20 stitches. Using the needles you are going to knit with, knit a square. The circular needles will cause you to automatically make a stocking stitch, so that is the stitch you will use to make this little sample square, or swatch. It might be a good idea to block the square before you measure it. Measure how many stitches per inch and how many rows per inch. This will be your guide when you want to know how many stitches to cast on initially. An example of this, which is called gauge, would be "5 stitches and 4 rows for one inch".
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    Measure around the body just below the armpits, over any garments you will be wearing under the sweater. Multiply this by your stitches-per-inch. For example, if we use the "5 stitches and 4 rows for one inch" and your measurement under the armpits is, say, 37 inches (94.0 cm), you would multiply 37 by 5 and get 185 stitches. Write this number down too. It is your Key Number.
  3. 3
    Cast on your key number of stitches on a circular needle, join and knit around until you have the length you want for the body. If you like, you can do a couple of rows of rib stitching first. But if you don't, the edge of the sweater will roll just a little, creating a neat, casual effect.
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    Put these stitches aside. That is, leave them on the first set of circular needles and leave them, making sure they won't fall off.
    • Measure around your wrist and, multiplying the number of inches by the number of stitches-per-inch, cast on those stitches on the second set of circular needles.
    • Before you actually start to work, measure the upper part of your arm and increase the stitches as you work the sleeves so that when you are done with the sleeve, it will fit over your arm to the point where you will join the body with the sleeve.
    • An alternate way to do this is to just measure the widest part of your arm and, using that measurement, find the initial stitches you will need. This will create kind of a wide, casual, comfortable sleeve that will look nice.
    • Work the sleeve until you have the length you want and keep trying it on, to make sure it will fit.
    • In order to make the second sleeve, you may want to get a thick piece of yarn and run it through all of the stitches on the first sleeve to hold them in place, because you don't want to bind them off.
    • Make 2 sleeves in this way, leaving the second sleeve on the needles.
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    You now have a body and 2 sleeves. Cast off two inches worth of stitches at the part of the sleeves that would be considered the underarm, or the part that would connect to the body at the armpit. ( **It appears that there's a direction missing here. In order to have the 2" space to attach the sleeve to the body of the sweater, 2" sections at the underarm need to be caste/bound off on the body of the sweater for each sleeve. 4/5/09)
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    Knit across the front, across one sleeve, across the back, across the other sleeve and you should be back where you started at the front again--all the stitches should be on one set of knitting needles. (Your bound off stitches from sleeve will align with the bound off stitches on the body.) Tie 4 little loops of colored yarn for stitch markers around the needle at the places the sleeve and body met. These will be where you decrease.
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    Before you get any further, measure from below the arms (where you have knitted to so far) to the top of the shoulder. Multiply this measurement by the number of rows to the inch. This will tell you how much further you must knit. You will need to have enough stitches to go round your neck when you get there. You need to measure your neck and multiply that by your stitches-per-inch. That is how many stitches you will need in order to be sure that the sweater neck will fit. Count how many stitches you already have on the needles and subtract the amount of stitches you will need at the end--the number of stitches you just found by measuring your neck. The remaining number after this subtraction is the number of stitches you will need to decrease by the time you get to the neck.
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    Divide the number of stitches that you will need to decrease by 4, since you will decrease four times per row, once at each stitch marker. This will give you the number of rows you need to go before you reach the desired number of stitches.
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    Continue knitting, making sure to decrease at the markers. You don't have to be too exact with the neck. Just keep trying it on and decrease until it is comfortable. If you want a 'turtle' neck, or 'mock' neck, continue knitting after you are done decreasing until the neck is as tall as you want it.
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    Keep trying it on, stopping when it fits right rather than when you may have planned to stop.
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    Continue to pick up stitches if desired evenly around the neck and rib for a bit if you want. If you don't, the neck will just roll a little, as said before, witch creates a casual look. Use smaller needles if you want it to close in a little. Cast off.
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  • If you don't know how to knit, purl, decrease, cast on, or do rib stitching, there are articles on this site that will help you.
  • It's important not to 'wing it' when it comes to measurements. Be sure to get careful measurements and write them down. It will help a lot in the long run.
  • Thick yarns knit up more quickly because there are less stitches per inch. Thinner or finer yarns knit up slowly because there are more stitches per inch. Thinner yarns make a lighter 'fabric' and thicker yarns a heavier fabric.
  • It might be a good idea to use 3 sets of circular needles so that you don't have to knit off of the string to attach one of the sleeves to the body. Also, for the sleeves, you can use a set of 4 double pointed needles, but these can be hard to work with for beginners.
  • For really detailed instructions look for Barbara Walker's 'Knitting from the Top', Jacqueline Fee's 'Sweater Workshop' or Elizabeth Zimmerman's 'Knitting Without Tears'.


  • Knitting can be addictive!

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