13 Hand-Knit Sweaters Their Owners Still Wear, From a First Sweater for Dad to a Dream Sweater From One Photo

“First adult sweater for my dad’s 74th birthday! Totally terrifying but I’m so happy with how it turned out. For sure feeling more brave about projects like this but if I look at another cable pattern right now I’ll cry”

It took me around 3 months of off and on work.

Hopefully my kiddos will do the same for me when I turn 74!

He prides himself on adorability he is going to be totally cheesed to hear this comment.

“The sweater I made for my husband is too small for him, but somehow fits me perfectly. Weird.”

My husband asked me to make him a sweater four years ago. I’d never made one, so this is my learning piece. What did I learn? That the universe wants me to enjoy the fruits of my labor.

I chuckle a bit because I let him pick out the color. Then for the three months it took me to complete it I teased him about his “doo doo brown” color choice.

I made my first sweater for our 1.5 yo for Christmas and it gave me a lot of confidence that I could do a grown up size. I gauge swatched and measured and charged on in. After I finished the body I suspected this was going to be the outcome. I ripped out the bottom ribbing and loosened it up hoping that’d change it more than it did. I kept hope I was just being nervous and doubting myself until the very bitter sweet end.

I’ve gotten a sneaky little grin about how it all transpired every time I’ve worn it.

“New sweater for a new school year”

I had promised my kid a humpback whale sweater back in the summer of 2019 and never delivered. I adjusted the charts to change the shape of the whale a little and put a second whale on the back, changed the length and shape to accommodate an almost 6’ tall growing kid, and made the sleeves plain.

I sure miss when the kid was small and the sweaters were quicker!

“Knitted my boyfriend a sweater and he didn’t dump me”

When I was 10, my first knitting book had some rules. One rule was something to the effect of “don’t knit your boyfriend a sweater, he will break up with you soon after.” I might have broken the sweater curse with this one! I ran out of the green yarn and couldn’t find more, so I improvised with some intarsia on the right sleeve.

I had the front, back, and green sleeve done when I realized I was going to run out of yarn. I’m wayyy too lazy to knit an extra sleeve.

It was quite annoying to make. I had 9 different balls of yarn going at once.

Weirdly enough, the yarn was given to me by an ex boyfriend’s mom. Unique sweater+yarn from an old boyfriend=curse broken.

No ring on my finger yet lol, there’s still time.

“We got engaged wearing the sweaters I knitted!”

We got engaged at golden hour completely by ourselves with not even a photographer, and it was absolutely magical.

He calls me Strawberry so I just HAD to knit the fruit sweater.

He has always deeply appreciated my knitting, when we first started dating he was really intrigued and always asked so many questions, and when he got his first hat from me he marveled over it and wore it even though it was too tight. So 2 years later he was finally deemed sweater-worthy after many hats and socks. I started knitting his sweater the week I had my last appointment at the jeweler — I dropped off my diamond to be installed in the setting I picked out — so I 100% knew the ring was in progress.

I bound off the neck on the way to the airport to fly to Washington state for the engagement trip and sewed in the ends on the plane.

But the best part is that in the airport waiting to board our flight to Washington, a lady was sitting across from me spinning yarn so of course we started yapping. When my then-boyfriend got up to get a coffee, she very quickly asked me “Aren’t you worried about the sweater curse?” and I said “No, because I know there’s an engagement ring in his bag right now” and her jaw dropped.

“30 years worn”

One of my first sweaters, that I knit for my father over 30 years ago. It was a lot big, and more than a little heavy, but he still wears it to this day, into his 90’s.

I weighed it once, over four pounds. Keeps him warm!

Late 80s here, but turned 90 this year. Still going strong!

It was his cottage sweater.

I’ve got the whole family covered with hats, scarfs, shawls, sweaters, etc. It’s a good feeling.

It’s nice when they last — not all of them do!

My oldest surviving sweater.

“My mom made me my dream sweater based off of one reference pic”

I am in awe :’) Throughout my childhood my mom never had the time to knit but recently she said she wanted to get back into it, and if there is anything I would like. I asked if I should find a pattern and she said no, just show me what you’d want. I had saved the photo of this sweater for years already, and I am so impressed with my mom for figuring out how to make it without having a pattern. You knitters are so talented!!

EDIT: my mom saw all the comments and is so happy about the positive response!

She made some alterations according to my taste, like the collar for example.

“I made a folklore sweater for my friend’s cat and it was worth every second”

My friend is a big Taylor Swift fan so I offered to make a little sweater for her cat inspired by the folklore cardigan.

Even with a few mistakes, it came together really quickly and I’m super happy with it!

Lured her in with a food bribe then betrayed her trust.

“Self-designed unicorn wrap vest for my best friend”

My best friend is struggling a lot right now, so when she asked me to make her a unicorn, I took it seriously.

The initial inspiration was the Unicorn Tapestries, which I then distilled into a general idea of a unicorn and flowers. I made hundreds of flower sketches, but nothing came together. Then one day it clicked: fern flowers! In Ukrainian mythology, the fern blooms on the summer solstice, and its flower has magical powers.

On the technical side, I’d done intarsia once before, but this was a whole different level. I had to weave in ~1350 ends.

The whole project took me two months (plus a month for design), has been with me to 5 countries, and my cat slept on it, but it’s finally ready to be sent to my friend!

Finishing it also marks my first year of knitting!! What a joyful ride it’s been, and I’m excited for what comes next.

“My son is learning to knit so he can knit a sweater for someone special!”

This is just a practice piece. I wanted to teach him a stitch or two and help him figure out his gauge before we tackled the real deal. He wants to make a light blue sweater.

He wants to make it in “something fuzzy.” I’m scared she is going to accidentally throw it in the washer or dryer.

Wool? He was asking for angora!

He is a quick study and has picked an intermediate pattern, but we’re going to have to see how that goes. I suspect we’ll be changing patterns fairly quickly, but I have been known to be wrong before....

“My GF knitted me a sweater. This is on you, she learned knitting from here.”

I don’t mind, crop tops are back in fashion.

“I’m a social worker and someone made this for me as a thank you. I’ll keep it forever!”

I’m technically not supposed to accept gifts, but this person put hours into making this for me and it made me cry to know I’m that appreciated. I have some friends that crochet or knit and I’ve heard a lot say that people tend to be unappreciative. It breaks my heart when I see this stuff at the thrift store too. To me, this is one of the best gifts I’ve ever been given and means so much to me!

I can’t wait to call her and tell her there’s thousands of people who think her work is beautiful. She was so happy just to give it to me and see my reaction, so I know this will make her day.

“My granddad gifted me a sweater my grandmother made for him, it has to be older than 35 years and still looks so good!”

He told us that a lot of women in town were talking behind his back that he always has the nicest sweaters and they were all jealous and honestly i would have been jealous too!

I kind of love how this was knitted such a long time ago and yet every hipster in my university buys those now to look vintage

I started knitting a year ago and my mum is a knitter too so I just ask her what to do if I need to clean it.

A sweater is knit for one person, but it rarely stays with just one. It gets borrowed, handed down and worn by people the knitter never pictured, sometimes for 30 years and counting. That is how one sweater ends up keeping a whole family warm.