Now that you have the swatch made, you can return to the yarn shop or order the remainder of the yarn. 

I have decided that we would do a women's finished size 48. This is a fairly large sweater and will be oversized if you knit to gauge, standard if you knit a little tighter, and more oversized if you knit looser. In other words, since we may have a gauge problem, I have tried to choose a size that is going to look fine as long as you are obtaining a gauge between 3 to 3.5 sts per the inch.

The gauge that I will be using in the pattern is 3.25 sts/in, 4 rws/in. For this sweater you will require approximately 766 yds of yarn. The yardage is stated on most balls of yarn. If the yardage on one ball is 66 then you would divide 766 by 66 to obtain the number of balls. 766 / 66 = 11.60 balls. You would purchase 12 balls total.

I am using size 10 1/2 and 10 needles or 7mm and 6mm. Again, the size I am using is irrelevant. The only relevant size needles are the ones you are using to get your gauge.

Now for those of you who own Sweater Wizard,  Click New, Click the In The Round tab, Click Drop, Pullover, Crew, Standard. Click Ok. On the next screen, enter your gauge and your needles. Click OK. You have a pattern to follow along with us.

If you do not have Sweater Wizard, please click here, to see and print your pattern.

I am using Alfa. Alfa is a wonderful blend of mohair and wool and machine washable to boot. 

Let's Get Started:

We are going to start at the bottom of the sweater.

The first line of the pattern reads:

With smaller circular needle, cast on 70 sts, place marker, cast on 70 sts, place marker, join.

In English this means pick up the smaller of the two circular needles. In my case it is the size 10.