This is an easy one – my dream project is to design my own piece of knitwear, preferably a sweater.

My experience knitting sweaters is still very limited. My first sweater was a cardigan, for which I didn’t check gauge, probably didn’t choose a yarn that was appropriate to the pattern, and which basically contained every beginner mistake possible. I wore it a few times, but it ended up in a batch of cast-offs donated to the Salvation Army.

Later projects met with much more success, such as my Hourglass Sweater from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts:

the Cable Luxe Tunic from Lion Brand:

the Helena child’s sweater from Knitty:

and, one of my favorites, a sweater for Sparky, my neighbor’s dog:

But neither of the sweaters I’ve made for myself are perfect. I made modifications to both patterns, but the fit still isn’t quite right. Now I’m working on my Swirl, which has been a great learning experience for a new sweater structure. I hope that, once I’ve successfully knitted a variety of sweater structures and constructions (yokes, raglan sleeves, top-down, Fair Isle, etc.), I’ll be able to take lessons learned from them, plus from books like Sweater Design in Plain English and Designing Knitwear, and put them to good use to come up with a shape and fit that are just right for me.