It has been 8 months since I started my second Guthrie sweater and I finally finished it. This pattern is so fun to knit so I would just knit a few rows at a time, almost like a little treat. No pressure or deadlines, just knitting for the pleasure of it because I can. I knit this one completely with Berroco Modern Cotton yarn(if you want to try it out, I’ve bought it through Little Knits and it’s 25% off, not the full range of colors but still a good selection). I think this is my favorite cotton yarn to use for colorwork, it glides smoothly in my hands and it finishes nicely. Here’s a closer look.
I lightly steam blocked this for photos but I’ve since washed it and let it air dry and it has smoothed out my few little wrinkles I had left. Knitting with cotton means the wool doesn’t really expand once you block it, so there isn’t a ton of stretch, but if you know your gauge and try it on as you go I think you’ll come out with a piece like this that you love.
The last time I knit a Guthrie sweater I used the Modern Cotton DK weight and another wool blend yarn and it’s a very fitted sweater, so with this one I wanted to use the worsted weight to get a bit of ease to it so it’s not so close to the body. I got exactly what I wanted with my second version. And I initially intended to make this long or three quarter length sleeves but felt like short was just the way to go. I love it, love it, love it and already know I’ll knit this one again. Have any questions about knitting with cotton you want me to answer? Leave a comment and I’ll get back to you!
Yards of Happiness 
Absolutely beautiful!
Thank you for sharing how the different yarns affected the ease of the sweater! I really like how this one fits you.
Loooooove that! And love your colors! I would probably use something with a little wool in the blend because I don’t think I could get cotton to lay that nicely! Bravo, you.
Beautiful and vibrant!
That’s a stunning sweater.
How nice it looks! I am a big fan of color work in cotton but I haven’t done any lately. Time for that to change.
This sweater is amazing. You nailed it!
You e done a beautiful job, Dana—what a lovely sweater! I haven’t done color work with cotton. My only experience with making a cotton garment was a Pima cotton shawl. I couldn’t keep gauge on it—it kept growing as I knit, and that made me really hesitant to try a sweater. Have you had a similar issue? If so, I think you found a way to solve it!
😉
I think the colorwork and the way the yarn wraps around itself helps keep it more stable.
I’m new to your blog and so glad I found it! You are a knitting wonder and inspiration.
Love it, it’s gorgeous! Knitting with cotton hurts my hands. I seem to need a bit of resilience in my yarn to keep my hands happy. I consider this a problem because I live in Los Angeles and can’t be knitting or wearing wool sweaters all the time, especially stranded! It seems like you don’t have this problem, but do you have any thoughts at all on how to deal with it? Or any readers? Thanks!!!
Love this sweater! You did a beautiful job. I just faved it on Revelry.
It’s totally YOU!
It’s gorgeous!
Totally perfect.
For cotton, did you have to go up a needle size or 2? Or did you use the size on the pattern?
I use whatever needle I got gauge with for the pattern when I swatched for the project. You can’t go by the pattern needle size since that’s based on the designers gauge and you might be a tighter or loser knitter. Hence why swatching becomes so important.