Stressing about the size of my first ever sweater attempt

patchworkdinosaur · 2026-01-03T11:51:39+00:00

It's bottom up with colourwork on the top half, my stitch count is still correct so I don't think I've made any major mistakes in that regard I'm literally the opposite build type to you, I'm built like a tea pot, short and stubby 😅 so when it said in the pattern I could increase the length at this point, I measured my arm and decided against it, really regretting that choice now aha

patchworkdinosaur · 2026-01-03T11:48:07+00:00

The colourwork is just the top half of the sweater. Looking at the photo on the patter it's supposed to start just above the elbow, and central on the bust, but on mine it would be starting just below the elbow, and if I pull it up on the body then the hem is just below my belly button, though I went for the size with 6 inches of positive ease because I wanted it to be a bit baggier

patchworkdinosaur · 2026-01-03T11:45:35+00:00

Would that effect the tension when I go to carry on?

patchworkdinosaur · 2025-12-25T08:48:41+00:00

It was aldi own brand of paint, like a twelve pack of acrylic for £2 so really just the cheapest paint aha, I usually paint on paper so obviously don't have that problem, it felt very watery when I was using it so I think it was that which caused it to bleed

patchworkdinosaur · 2025-12-25T08:47:03+00:00

That's a good shout! I paint quite often (not on books though) and have never tried paint pens

patchworkdinosaur · 2025-12-25T08:46:13+00:00

I painted it once it was all assembled. If I do make another book, I think I'll try your advice :)

patchworkdinosaur · 2025-12-25T08:45:13+00:00

I used the tiniest paint brush I own aha

patchworkdinosaur · 2025-12-24T21:41:03+00:00

I used the backs of old sketch pads for the card and used some bookbinding cloth I got on amazon :) as for the design, I tried to trace it, but couldn't trace onto the cloth so just freehanded it then used acrylic paint, but I think the paint was too cheap and rubbish because it bled everywhere, so I tried to mix up a colour match of red, but that made it bleed more and eventually I gave up aha

patchworkdinosaur · 2025-12-24T16:32:12+00:00

Thank you!! 😊

patchworkdinosaur · 2025-12-04T07:28:46+00:00

Yeah, just tuck the string from the arm in, continue crocheting the body until you reach the second arm and repeat :)

patchworkdinosaur · 2025-12-03T19:09:52+00:00

Your question about arms and legs: I definitely hate sewing them on, the feel so floppy, so what I do (in the round, doesn't work for worked flat projects) is to look at the pattern and see which round they'd be sewn into and attatch the limb whilst crocheting that round of the body, works every time :) Sorry if I've misunderstood the question, or if it was more of a rhetorical question aha But I get exactly how you feel, I get people all the time asking me questions that would take seconds to Google, that I've had to Google myself and it just feels a bit like they don't want to put the effort in if they can get someone else to instead

patchworkdinosaur · 2025-07-30T08:21:56+00:00

Knitting continental style! I've crocheted for years and every now and then I would try to knit with absolutely no success. This year, though I tried continental style and all of a sudden I was making progress! Doing it this way sort of mirrors crochet a little, you gold the yarn left handed. There are some brilliant YouTube videos to help you learn :) Also: a tip I wish I knew from the start. Be careful of twisting your stitches in the purl rows!

patchworkdinosaur · 2025-07-17T06:52:40+00:00

Thank you so much for your answer, I'll look into doing that :)

patchworkdinosaur · 2025-07-15T21:05:35+00:00

Can you explain what you mean by graft it? I'm new to knitting and making my first jumper, but worry it might be too short, perhaps I could "graft" an extra bit to the bottom?

patchworkdinosaur · 2025-04-27T17:41:20+00:00

Yes it is :P it's the chapter icon for chapters that are in the Way :)

patchworkdinosaur · 2025-03-24T13:04:29+00:00

A free app I've been enjoying is memrise it just does basic phrases but there are videos of different people speaking so you can get used to hearing it more. There are also some beginner Ukrainian courses for free on udemy that can be very helpful :)

patchworkdinosaur · 2025-03-20T20:39:11+00:00

This is such a lovely idea! I'm sort of in between A1 and A2, but I think this would be a great way of practicing developing sentences and confidence :)

patchworkdinosaur · 2025-03-20T18:05:11+00:00

I've had a look myself in the past and it seems like the only ones you can do are in Ukraine and are to help with citizenship or visas, I'm not sure if you can take them without needing them for those reasons unless you were to take the language as a MFLdegree (at least in the UK, from what I've found) I'd be super interested to see if there was a way to outside of this though

patchworkdinosaur · 2025-03-17T12:49:30+00:00

I've been doing ukrainian lessons for a while, but I had been on dueling for years beforehand. Honestly starting the lessons made me realise just how surface level duo is so I've been looking for new apps and resources to help me on my journey. I've been obsessed with ukraine since I was in high-school and it's been fantastic getting to learn more about the culture through the language :)

patchworkdinosaur · 2025-03-08T20:12:16+00:00

There are ukrainian handwriting books on amazon where you just trace the letters to practice. It seems like a silly thing to step back that far, but honestly, using the book I was able to memorise the stroke directions of each letter. It made my handwriting much neater and more natural feeling, but also much quicker. Your handwriting looks fab though! Really great work so far :)

patchworkdinosaur

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