Pool Ball Sweater Update

Just wanted to give a quick update on my pool ball sweater—it’s been coming along steadily and I’ve made some good progress since my last post.

Last post I was still working on the yoke. Since then I’ve…

• Added a couple inches to the body: I worked on the body a bit after finishing the yoke, but paused at the end of a skein and put the body stitches on hold so I could work on the sleeves. I usually do this to make sure the sleeves end up long enough and it also helps prevent me from ending up on sleeve island later.

• Finished both sleeves: I went with 2x2 ribbing for the cuffs and used this video for Italian bind-off. It was my first time doing Italian bind-off on 2x2, and there was a bit of a learning curve, but I’m obsessed with how it turned out.

• Started the neckline: I’m about halfway through knitting the 2x2 rib neckline, which will be folded once it reaches the right height.

• Got the pool ball yarn in the mail: I was a little worried the colors might not look the same in person, but they’re perfect—and they arrived way faster than I expected. The sweater still needs to be finished first, but it’s nice to have the yarn ready when I get to the graphics.

All in all, I really love how this sweater is turning out. Surprisingly, it feels like it’s working up quicker than if I were following a pattern. When I use a pattern, I’m usually just following it blindly and don’t want to think too hard—but because I’ve planned everything myself, figuring out stitch counts and using the gauge to match the measurements I wanted, everything has come out exactly how I hoped. There hasn’t been any frogging, and it feels really rewarding to see it all come together the way I envisioned. I’m excited to keep working on it and see the rest of the sweater take shape!