A step-by-step guide to knitting the cosy-chic Ruby 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 🦸♀️
When it comes to knitting, 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.
Not your average knit and with just the right amount of detail the Ruby Jumper is going to be your new favourite. Ruby is a great project if you've knitted one or two cosy masterpieces before (or if it's your first knitting project and you're feeling adventurous!). If you're a total beginner you'll want to be confident with the knit stitch and its friend the purl stitch before we start. We put the knit and purl stitches together to make a rib stitch and stockinette stitch. You'll also want to get the hang of tying a slip knot and casting on - AKA getting the stitches onto your needle!
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!
KNITTING DOUBLE STRAND
We knit our jumper double strand. This means you have two strands on the go at once. To do this, we suggest you work with two balls at once.
🚨 Now, a little word of caution when knitting with two strands. It's much easier to put your needle through your stitch in the wrong place, and if you do this you'll end up with more stitches on your needle than you've cast on 🤯 We recommend counting your stitches every few rows as you knit to make sure you haven't added any rogue stitches. If you have, and it's picked up quickly, you can knit two stitches together on the next row to return to your correct number of stitches for the piece.
Total beginner? 👩🏫
For a more comprehensive lesson on the basics of knitting visit our Learn How To Knit page.
Onto the Jumper!
⚡️What you'll need
Your kit comes with everything you'll need to make your masterpiece. In your kit you'll find;
- 10mm circular needles
- 12mm circular needles
- 7 to 8 balls of Cardigang Alpaca yarn
- Stitch marker
- A darning needle
- Made by me tag
You also want to have a pair of scissors handy.
📏 Sizing and measurements
You can make your Ruby Jumper in 5 sizes.
| SIZE | AUS | MEASUREMENTS |
| 1 | 6-8 | 55CM WIDE X 45CM LONG |
| 2 | 10-12 |
60CM WIDE X 49CM LONG |
| 3 | 14-16 | 65CM WIDE X 53CM LONG |
| 4 | 18-20 | 70CM WIDE X 56CM LONG |
| 5 | 22-24 | 75CM WIDE X 56CM LONG |
Your pattern is read like this; 1 (2, 3, 4, 5). Make sure you're following the correct instructions for your size.
🥣 Test your tension
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.
Gauge: If done correctly, your 10x10cm knitted swatch should be 8 stitches wide and 11 rows high when knitted double strand in stockinette stitch on your 12mm needles.
To test this, jump on your needles - use the yarn and needles that came in your kit. Cast on 10-12 stitches, then knit in stockinette stitch (knit all stitches in your first row, purl all stitches in the next - repeat) for 13-14 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.
If you've got more stitches or rows than the instructions say you should have, your knitting is a little too tight, and if you've got less your knitting is too loose. Adjust your tension by holding the yarn a little more tightly/loosely as you knit.
💡 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.
Time to get click-clacking and whip up your cosy jumper.
Remember learning a new skill can be a little challenging at first, and you’re bound to find yourself making some mistakes along the way. But as with learning anything, your brain and your hands slowly start to get the hang of it, muscle memory is created, and soon the thing you found tricky/daunting/scary is like second nature! 💪
KNITTING IN THE ROUND
YOU'LL KNIT YOUR JUMPER IN THE ROUND SO LET'S GET FAMILIAR WITH THE IDEA. Knitting in the round is where we use our circular needles and knit continuously in loops, rather than back and forth in rows (like a lot of beginner patterns do). Now don't worry! It's not anywhere near as hard as it sounds. When knitting in the round, you're always knitting on the "front" side of your work so you don't need to turn the piece to knit on the "back" side. Plus, you don't need to sew your piece together at the end!
BODY
STEP 1
We start knitting the body in the round and from the bottom up. That mean's we'll start with a rib stitch before we move into a knit stitch.
Cast on the required number of stitches using your 10mm circular needles.
Once you've cast on the right number of stitches you join your work in the round.
🎬 Watch How To Knit In The Round
IT'S SUPER IMPORTANT TO MAKE SURE THAT YOUR WORK DOESN'T TWIST WHEN YOU'RE WORKING IN THE ROUND. SO JUST DOUBLE-CHECK BEFORE YOU BEGIN EACH ROUND THAT EVERYTHING IS STRAIGHT.
STEP 2
Let's move on to the rib. Knit the rib following the instructions in your pattern.
💭 Make sure you use a stitch marker to keep track of the number of rows/loops you’ve knitted. A stitch marker can be anything round; a ring, hair tie or a spare piece of yarn.
Remember 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 your work between each stitch (bring the yarn in through the middle of the needles) to ensure the rib is executed correctly.
STEP 3
Next, we're going to change to our 12mm needles and we're going to do a knit stitch.
💭 To switch to a different size needle we just hold the new needle (in this case the 12mm needle) in our right hand and the current needle with your work on it in your left hand. Then knit the stitches from your left needle onto the new needle in your right hand.
We knit the required number of rows before we split the work and knit up the front and back separately. Tick off the circles to help you keep track of your progress.
STEP 4, 5, 6
We're going to split the work now, so we knit up the back and the front of the body separately. We knit up the back first.
Because we're no longer knitting in the round, we have a 'front' and 'back' of the work. This means instead of knitting every row, we need to knit one row and then purl the next - this stitch is called stockinette.
Knit one row. Then flip your work and purl the next row.
The other stitches will just hang out on your needle until we're ready to come back to them. Knit your stitches.
STEP 7
Cast off the stitches for your back panel. When you have just one stitch left on your right needle, cut your yarn from the ball (leaving about 20cm) and thread it back through your last stitch to secure it
🔥 Nice work! Did somebody say wine time?! 🍷
Step 8, 9, 10
Attach your yarn to the first of the stitches you've got left on your needle. You'll want to pick the side that means you'll start with a knit stitch - so the 'v's should be on the side facing you.
Then knit in stockinette stitch as instructed. When you've got 6 rows left, we'll start to make the space for our neckline.
Step 11 to 24
We're going to start the neckline now. To do this, we split the work into two shoulders and a space for the headhole. We're going to create some shape around the head hole by knitting some stitches together on our knit rows.
This video shows you how to create the neckline. Just remember to follow your pattern for the number of stitches you need to work on each shoulder.
🎬 Watch How to knit your neckline
🎬 Watch How to knit two together
SEW YOUR SHOULDERS TOGETHER
Before we move into the sleeves we're going to sew the shoulders of your body up. Grab your darning needle to sew the shoulder seams together using the invisible seam technique.
SLEEVES
Step 1
We knit our sleeves from the top down. Using your 12mm needles, we'll pick up the allocated number of stitches from around the arm hole. The below video demonstrated this technique on a neckline but the process for the arm holes is the same.
Step 2
We're knitting in the round again which means we knit every row. This should be a cinch by now! 💪
Step 3
To get the 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.
Step 4
Next, we switch to using our 10mm needles to knit the cuff of our sleeves. We'll knit these in 1x1 rib stitch.
Cast off your stitches.
Hot tip: Cast off your stitches loosely so your hand can fit easily through the end of your sleeve!
NECKLINE
Step 1-2
Okay knitting QWEEN we're going to finish our gorgeous jumper with the neckline.
Using your 10mm needles you'll pick up an even number of stitches from around the neckline.
Mark the beginning of your loop with your stitch marker and then knit 6 loops of 1x1 rib stitch.
📹 Watch How To Knit Your Neckline
Step 3
Cast off your stitches. Now this part is critical... don't cast your stitches off too tightly or your cute little head won't fit through the head hold! We've been there and trust us, it's super frustrating!
FINISHING
The last thing we do for every piece is weave in the ends. That’s basically just tidying up the piece so all loose ends are trimmed down and tucked into the inside of your work. You use your darning need and weave those ends into the seams so they are nicely hidden away.
D.O.N.E! You've finished your jumper, well done! Epic work 🤩 If this was your first-ever knitting project or one of many, we hope you had a blast click-clacking and making your masterpiece 💥❤️
In a bind and need a little more help?
Email us at stitchup@cardigang.com.au and we'll be able to help! Whether you're just starting out, or you've got a specific question or problem (dropped a stitch, no stress!), we're here to get you out of a bind.
BLOCKING (OPTIONAL)
The final step in finishing a knitted piece is to block it. This step is optional and not all beginner knitters will block their work (we certainly didn't 🤣) but it can improve the overall shape and finish of your piece.
Blocking your knitting is a process where you wet your piece to set the finished size and even out the stitches.
You can choose to block your work before you seam it together, or after. If you block before seaming together you might get a better result with your seaming because the stitches will be more lined up.
Step 1
Soak your knit in cool water. You only need to let your piece sit in the water for a few minutes and make sure the full piece is completely wet.
Step 2
Remove your knit from the water and dry it off by rolling it in a towel. You want to get us much of the moisture out of the knit as possible at this point but be gentle! You don't want to stretch the knit.
Step 3
Transfer your damp knit to a flat surface to block it on. If you've got a blocking mat - great! otherwise a towel will work. The surface needs to be somewhere where your knit can lie flat and can stay there until it fully dries so that the shape sets properly. Make sure it's not a surface that can be easily damaged by having something wet sitting on it!
Step 4
Arrange your piece so the right side is facing up and the shape is as you'd like it. If you've got a measuring tape you can measure and adjust the piece so it's the correct size.
Step 5
Allow the knit to air dry - this can take a few days. You can also use a hair dryer to speed up the process, just use a light heat and don't concentrate the air in one spot.
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