DIY: Knit Lyngen Sweater by Dianna Walla

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This fall, I knit my first sweater, the Lyngen Sweater by Dianna Walla from Making No. 5.

The Lyngen Sweater is a yoke sweater knit from the bottom up. It has some waist shaping and back shoulder shaping. This was my first time using wrap-and-turn short rows, but they weren’t hard to do! Since the sweater is bottom up, by the time I got to the yoke, I had the whole body and two sleeves attached. This made it a bit hard to keep turning and maneuver when knitting the colourwork. The sweater includes a small colourwork design on the body hem and cuffs, so that kept things fun and interesting in the beginning.

We visited Koigu for their amazing tent sale in August and I began knitting just a couple days after. The tent sale had some great deals, and I bought all my yarn at 10-30% off. Despite the fingering weight, I blazed through the knitting and finished in time for Woodstock Fleece Festival.

I used a yellow tonal/speckled yarn to knit my sweater. This year I wanted a yellow sweater, and I love to wear it now that it’s so grey and dreary out. I also had fun knitting the sweater since the colours kept changing. In all, I used 7.5 skeins of yellow yarn. I have enough left to make a couple hats or a pair of mittens.

For the contrast on the cuff, hem, and yoke, I used green, pink, and white KPPPM from Koigu too. I am very proud of my first sweater!  Even though this sweater uses fingering weight yarn, it took me just one month to finish.

Following the size chart, I made size 44″. I used  a 3.0 mm needle for the majority of the body and sleeves, and a smaller 2.5 mm needle for cuff and ribbed hem. I switched to a 2.5 mm needle when working the shoulders (since I don’t know how to do an FBA for knitting!). This was the first time I knit a swatch, and I made two swatches to get gauge. I have a loose gauge so I used needles a size smaller from the pattern. The pattern photos also show a three-quarter length sleeve so I lengthened my sleeves by five centimetres. I wanted a cozy, full-length sleeve, but I may have added too much length (despite measuring my own arms and referring to other sweater patterns).

However, despite my swatching, the sweater is a bit large. I guess it’s better too big than too small! To adjust the fit a bit, I dampened the sweater and threw it in the dryer! I set the dryer on low, and checked every 5-10 minutes to make sure I didn’t shrink it too much. After an hour I pulled it out, and it shrunk just a bit to fit better. I love how the sweater turned out! The sleeves are still a bit long, but everything fits rather well!

Despite my fitting issues, I really love my Lyngen sweater! The Lyngen Sweater pattern is available via Making magazine, or on Ravelry.