The Bulky Easy One or Blogmas Day 1

Day 1 of Blogmas, because I don’t feel like Vlogmas.

I am writing this post so far after finishing The Bulky Easy One, that it may be hard for me to dredge up the details of the knit from my mind. Here’s what I do remember: It is meant to be oversized, it can be modified to use worsted weight yarn, it has sleeve seams that are visible on the right side (I always like that.) and it makes me feel like I’m back in 1990- something when I wear it with Docs, though I couldn’t afford Docs back then. These seem to be the most important details anyway. So you can quit reading now and just look at all the cool graffiti at the HOPE Gallery because it changes weekly.

I went on a knitting quest in 2018 to make the perfect oversized sweater. After swinging from accidentally oversized to accidentally too tight, it has been a relief to land on intentionally oversized. It’s hard to mess that up. If it’s only a little oversized, it still fits fine and if it’s a lot too huge- even better. You know you’ve got it right when you can burrow into the couch with knees bent and hidden within the sweater too. The only drawback to baggy is that it takes more yarn and more time.

By the way, this is a Joji Locatelli pattern. It’s so weird that this is only my second Joji pattern to knit.  I own so much of her work but have only knit Dragonflies. I even went to a workshop she put on with Veera Valmäki. You should really knit more than one pattern from a designer you ask to pose in a photo with you.

So why choose this very basic, big sweater over all of the detailed, more complicated designs she has out? Because it was simple and big and totally nostalgic for me. I miss big oversized sweaters that I don’t have to steal from my husband. Until the giant sweater obsession struck me, earlier this year, I had nothing oversized. So, my mission was to go big on several knits. And I did it with six sweater designs.

Here’s how the Gigante Sweater Experiment went:

There’s this Bulky Easy One – plenty big enough to work with leggings, jeans, skirts whatever.

You have seen my Birch– same but with cute Icelandic-style yoke.

 My Weekender– roomy but cropped and the sleeves aren’t oversized. Actually, I’d like to add an inch, but I’ll probably just stretch the heck out of them next time I wash it. This would be really cute with high waisted jeans…if I had any that fit.

The Edge and Sunset Highway– both were a normal fit, not tight but not much wiggle room.

So, four oversized sweaters in one year is pretty good. Imagine how many I could churn out if I was still knitting fitted bulky sweaters and shrugs?!

Details on this knit: This is fairly large, so I chose an inexpensive yarn I see every time I go into Joann, but have never actually bought. This Patons Classic Tweed is classic black, but the tweed flecks are rainbow hued. That doesn’t work on just any sweater type, to my mind. But a large stockinette sweater seemed the perfect canvas, so I got some on sale, which wasn’t hard. Joann has been waking crafters up early each weekend morning with a text about Doorbusters!! for years.

I probably knit this on US size 6 needles, but that’s just a guess because I was busy working hard on it to possibly wear to Iceland (I didn’t because I was only bringing black leggings and didn’t feel like being the Mistress of Gloom in the Land of Ice and Fire) and so I never recorded needle info on my Ravelry page. My Ravelry says I used all 6 skeins, but I’m not really sure that’s true. I do know that I can’t find any remains of the last skein. I have lots of Patons Tweed leftovers that I have searched for this week, to my frustration. I’m sure they’re all in the same, safe, completely hidden place. Sigh. Just order more than you think you will need if you go with worsted. That leads to my one modification.

Mods:  My modification, and it’s an important one, was to knit this with worsted yarn, rather than the bulky the pattern calls for. Like many skilled knitters before me I eschewed the math and just knit the instructions for a larger size (the 3XL).  It worked.

The only trouble I had was in the seaming of the shoulders and sleeve. It’s probably the simplest thing, but for some reason I had a hard time getting that homespun look of visible seams. When I was a new knitter, visible seams were all I knew, but now I can’t seem to master it. Whatever. I fiddled with it enough and it looks good to me.

(more on Ravelry, Instagram, and Flickr)

More posts on this pattern here: My Quest. There’s also talk on Podcast episodes 4-9 then all the way on 21.