A step-by-step guide to knitting the anything but basic Betty Jumper.

Ever gotten halfway through a project and thought “Hang on, am I even doing this right?” We have 🙋‍♀️

That’s why we’ve created these step-by-step guides to walk you through the knitting process. 

Even if you've never knitted before, we'll take you from zero to knitting hero in no time 🦸‍♀️

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Before we get started on the pattern we suggest you spend a bit of time learning the basic stitches you’ll need to complete your masterpiece. The Betty Jumper is made using a combination of knit and purl stitches. We put these together to make a 1x1 rib stitch and a stockinette stitch. You'll want to be confident with the knit and purl stitches before you start 🧶 You'll also want to get a hang of tying a slip knot and casting on your stitches which is the first step in any knitting project. 

📹  Watch How To Tie A Slip Knot

📹  Watch How To Cast On

📹  Watch How To Knit Stitch

📹  Watch How To Purl Stitch

You can use the yarn that came in your kit to practice with. Once you've got these mastered you'll find the pattern a cinch! 

👩‍🏫 For a more comprehensive lesson on the basics of knitting visit our Learn How To Knit page. Or jump to our YouTube page and do some exploring. 

TEST YOUR TENSION

First thing's first. Before you start your project, make sure your tension (how tightly or loosely your knitting is) is juuuust right 🥣 We do this by knitting a “tension swatch”. It's a bit like goldilocks, if the tension is too tight, your piece will be too small, and if it's too loose it may not hold its shape and might be too big. 

If done correctly, your 10x10cm knitted swatch should be 7 stitches wide and 9 rows high. 

To test this, jump on your needles, cast on around 12 stitches, then knit in stockinette stitch (row 1 knit, row 2 purl) for around 10 rows. Then measure a 10x10cm square and count your stitches and rows within that space to make sure you're knitting at the correct tension. 

💡 We know knitting a tension swatch can seem like a bit of a drain, but it's really important because the difference of a few millimetres in your tension can lead to a finished piece this is quite different in size to what you intended. 

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Your kit comes with everything you need to knit your masterpiece. 

• 10mm circular needles 
• 15mm straight needles
• 1 ball of Chunky Merino yarn in colour 1
• 5 balls of Chunky Merino yarn in colour 2
• Darning needle 

SIZING

You can knit the Betty in size 1-2 (AU6-10) or 2-3 (AU12-16). Your pattern is read like this: 1-2 (2-3).

MEASUREMENTS 

Lying flat your piece will measure: 

Size 1-2: 60cm wide x 49cm high

Size 2-3: 69cm wide x 55cm high

USING YOUR PATTERN

One of the things we found the hardest when we were learning to knit was keeping track of our rows. Before we were able to easily identify a row of stitches we used a pen and paper to keep track. That's why we've included handy circles in our patterns - you can tick them off as you go. The dashed circles are for the larger sizes. We've also colour-coordinated the circles to help keep track of the colour you're knitting with. 

OKAY, LET’S KNIT UP A STORM! 

BACK

We knit our masterpiece in pieces, starting with the back panel, then the front, and then the sleeves. Once we have all our pieces we’ll sew the jumper together and knit the ribbed neckline. 

We start with the back panel, it’s the simplest piece of the knit and will give you confidence as you move on to other pieces. We knit from the bottom up, starting at the rib and going up to the shoulders. 

Step 1:

Cast on the required number of stitches using your 10mm circular needles and colour 1 yarn.

Step 2:

Once you've cast on the right number of stitches you move on to the rib. We knit the rib following the instructions in your pattern. To create a rib we knit 1 stitch, then purl the next. Make sure you’re moving your yarn tail from the back to the front of our stitch to ensure the stitch is executed correctly. 

📹 Watch How To Do A Rib Stitch 

Step 3:

Next, we move onto using our 15mm straight needles and into stockinette stitch. This is also where we change colours. 

To switch to a different size needle we just hold the new needle (in this case the 15mm straight needle) in our right hand and knit onto the stitch on your 10mm needle in your left hand. Simple! 

📹 Watch How To Change Colours

With the needle and colour change, we’ll work the allocated rows of stockinette stitch. 

Step 4: 

Once we've worked the rows of stockinette we need to cast off our stitches to finish the back piece. 

📹 Watch How To Cast Off

FRONT

Nice work, you're onto the front piece! Now the front is identical to the back until you get up to shaping the space for your head hole. 

Step 1 - 4: 

Repeat the same sequence as the back. 

Step 5: 

⚡️ Okay, we're going to shape the neckline and to do this, we split the work into two shoulders and a space for the head hole. 

📹 Watch How To Knit Your Neckline

You're on a purl row, so you'll purl the allocated number of stitches, and then you'll purl two together to decrease the number of stitches in our row.

📹 Watch How To Purl Two Stitches Together

Step 6:

Next, you'll turn your work over. You'll have a bunch of stitches left on the left needle that you haven't knitted yet- that's fine. Leave them on your needle, for now, we're working up the first shoulder. 

Step 7 - 8: 

Continue shaping your first shoulder. 

Step 9: 

Cast off those stitches and your first shoulder is done! 

Step 10: 

Next, you'll rejoin your yarn to the stitch closest to the end of your left needle. Tie a knot with your yarn tail around the base of that stitch. You're ready to keep knitting! 

Step 11: 

First, we're going to cast off some stitches to create that head hole. Then continue onto the second shoulder, purling two stitches together and then purling to the end of the row.

STEP 12 - 14:

Continue knitting the second shoulder in stockinette stitch.

Step 15: 

Cast off the second shoulder. Front panel D.O.N.E! 

Have a stretch and give yourself a pat on the back.

SLEEVES

Onto the sleeves. You'll do two of theses too 😎🧶

We start at the top of the sleeve and knit down to the cuff. We knit this piece flat just like the front and back pieces.

Step 1: 

Using your 15mm straight needles and colour 2, cast on the correct number of stitches.

Step 2:

We're going to knit in stockinette stitch for the allocated number of rows. This should be a cinch by now! 💪

Step 3: 

To get the balloon shape in our sleeve, we're going to decrease some stitches before we knit the cuff. You'll knit two stitches together all the way along the row so you've got 18 left on your needle at the end of the row. 

📹 Watch How To Knit Two Stitches Together

Step 4 - 5:

Once that’s done you'll change colours back to colour 1, and swap to the 10mm needles to start your rib stitch.

Step 6:

Cast off your stitches. When you cast off make sure it’s not too tight otherwise you’ll have a really tight wrist hole!

SEWING IT TOGETHER

Now it’s time to get to work with the darning needle to sew your masterpiece together. We lay our pieces flat and sew them together one by one.

📹 Watch How To Sew Your Knit Together

Step 1:

Lay your front and back pieces on a flat surface, the right sides facing you. 

Step 2:

Sew the shoulder panels together using the invisible seam technique, leaving the hole for your head.

Step 3:

Time to attach the sleeves to the body. Make sure the middle of your sleeve is lined up with the shoulder seam. This will ensure the seam of your sleeve is right under your armpit, not halfway around your arm! Once you've made sure it's all lined up, sew the sleeves to the shoulders. 

Step 4:

Fold your jumper in half so it looks like the shape of a T. With the wrong sides facing each other, we're going to sew it together using a Mattress Stitch, from the cuff all the way up the arm to the armpit, then down the side seam to the bottom of your jumper. And then repeat this on the other side. 

💭 We suggest trying to match the colour yarn you use to the jumper to keep it as invisible as possible. It's normal for the wool to get a bit shabby as you go, so we recommend using a few pieces and tying them together underneath as you go!

NECKLINE

We're SO CLOSE! I can see the finish line 🎢🙌

We knit the neck ‘in the round’. This means we use our circular needles and knit in a loop instead of knitting back and forth in a row.

The neck is knitted with your contrast colour in 1x1 rib stitch - you’ll be pretty good at this now!

Pick up 36 stitches in equal distance from around the neck hole using our 10mm circular needles. Once you’ve got all your stitches on your needles you join the loop together and start the rib stitch. It’s a good idea to loop a hair tie or spare piece of yarn over your needle as a stitch marker so you can keep track of each loop.

📹 Watch How To Pick Up Stitches

Knit in the round until you’ve completed 6 loops then cast off.

💡 Now this part is critical! Cast of extra loosely!! You need a loose cast off in order to be able to fit your head through the hole. Rib stitch has a stretch to it, but if you cast off too tightly you'll have a hole that's too small for your head to fit through. Been there, done that and DON'T recommend 😝