Super Chunky monkey

I knit this squishy, texture-filled, oversized cropped jumper with balloon sleeves for my sister-in-law, who chose the pattern and yarn. Full details about this project can be found on the LoveCrafts project page here.

The pattern is The Gia sweater by pom.Antwerp, and it calls for thick yarn and big needles. In fact, the yarn weight is called Super Bulky in US terminology, Super Chunky in UK terminology, or 14ply in Australian terminology. It turns out, it's not that easy to find super bulky yarn in cool colours here in Australia, without shopping online. So after some testing I worked out that I could get the correct gauge using 4 strands of 8ply yarn and the big needles the pattern called for.

I loved the texture, the colour and how quick it was to knit, and that made it a very fun project. It wasn't something I could take with me on the bus, though: four balls of yarn get tangled up very quickly!

I was curious about how this one would all come together, because it was my first time knitting a drop-shoulder sweater. You knit in the round from the bottom ribbing up to the underarms, then start working back and forth in rows to make the back, left front and right front one at a time. Then, you sew the shoulder seams together, pick up stitches around the armhole, and knit straight down the sleeve to the cuff. There's no short row shaping or anything for the sleeve cap, but somehow it magically falls into place at the end.

Knitting this jumper was quite an adventure, and I now feel confident to tackle another chunky drop-shoulder jumper - maybe Earn Your Stripes by Brenda Lam!

How about you - do you have any experience working with super chunky yarn and big needles? Have you made a drop-shoulder jumper before? Let me know in the comments!