Pattern: I Heart Aran - originally published in April of 2011.
Yarn: TFA Fingering.
Ravelry pattern page here and original blog post here.
This sweater pattern will always hold a very special place in my heart. I worked on it so hard for so long and I still love it! I Heart Aran was my first adult sweater pattern and that means I learnt a lot in the process of designing and writing it up. I remember when it came time to grade the pattern for all the sizes I sent an email to a designer friend of mine and asked “Is there a program where I can just put in my pattern and it pops out graded? Do I seriously have to sit there and do all that math for every size? What am I missing?” She replied with the email equivalent of a gentle pat on the head and an “aw honey, yes, you really do have to sit there and work out all that math for every size. There is no secret shortcut.” Hmmm. This designing thing really is hard work!
Experienced designers and people who are more clever than me have developed elaborate spreadsheets to grade their patterns (still involves lots of work though) but I am less of a spreadsheet kinda gal and more of a pencil and paper kinda gal, that’s just how my mind works. Anyways, I survived! And I had this beautiful pattern to show for it. Publishing this pattern was a big moment for me.
Sidebar - I did fine in high school math but I certainly wasn’t especially enthusiastic about it. However! Had math been taught with a more practical approach rather than purely theoretical I bet I would have resented it less. You know how when you’re an artsy teen and you’re learning complicated math and you say “I’m never going to use this in my real life” well… if you become a knitwear designer you’ll actually use it (some of it at least). Food for thought! :)
Gosh I love those cables! That cushy cozy collar! Dove was a brand new colourway when this pattern was released, I don’t know how I ever lived without it.