Sweater season is here! I love when the weather starts to cool down and I can knit something cozy. I wanted to knit a new sweater for my husband and I decided on the Fort Sweater. Keep reading for my experience knitting this sweater:
I have knit a few different sweaters for my husband — Tundra Jumper, Honeycomb Aran, Single Malt x3. But with this sweater, I was really excited about the sleeve construction. The Fort by Jared Flood has a set-in sleeve which has a store-bought look to me. I also thought the checkerboard stitch looked nice. This sweater seemed really clean and professional.
PATTERN
The price was higher than other sweater patterns I’ve bought and I’d never knit a Jared Flood pattern before, so I was hesitant to buy. There were over 800 projects on Ravelry, but also the pattern was released 12 years ago. Ultimately I decided to give it a try because at least 20 projects were completed this year. So I felt confident enough that the pattern was well-written enough for others to be working the pattern still in 2025.
I downloaded the pattern and it seemed detailed. It’s 20 pages, but the layout is a little inefficient. For example, the pattern is charted, but the legend is on a separate page when there is a lot of space to consolidate. And in other areas, the pattern lists the row instructions, but the next column or even next page has the repeat instructions. So you have to frequently scroll back and forth. The pattern isn’t complicated and it wasn’t a huge deal, but the document layout didn’t seem to prioritize function.
There is also a section on wet blocking the sweater that takes half a page, but all that is explained about assembling the set-in sleeve is “Sew Sleeve caps into Armholes”. :/ I was a tiny bit nervous, but I’ve knit sweaters before and thought I’d be ok, but for a $13 pattern I was expecting a little more.
CHOOSING YARN
The pattern recommends yarn from the designer – Brooklyn Tweed Shelter, but this yarn is discontinued now. So I headed to yarnsub.com to find a similar yarn. One of the matches was Gilliatt from De Rerum Natura which looked like it met a lot of the characteristics of Shelter.
I looked at the Yarn Ideas tab for other Fort sweater projects on Ravelry and De Rerum Natura Gilliatt had been used a fair few times. So I took my husband’s measurements and started looking for colors in Gilliatt yarn.
Yarn
I ordered 6 balls of De Rerum Natura – Gilliatt in the color Aubépine to knit the Fort Sweater in size 4. The yarn is really pretty; it’s round and bouncy. It feels soft and I was excited start knitting. For the size 4 sweater, the pattern calls for 1,670 yards which would equate to 6.18 balls of yarn. I thought by cropping the length of the sweater a bit, I could get away with buying just 6 balls of yarn.
Swatching
It’s always a good idea to swatch before knitting a garment. You work so long to hand knit something; you definitely want it to have the correct fit. I especially wanted to get the swatch right because this sweater is knit from the bottom up which would make it a little more difficult to rip back and make adjustments.
The gauge is 20 stitches x 35 rounds – 4″ in the checkerboard stitch. The pattern recommends US 7 (4.5mm) needles.
I cast on 34 stitches in German Twisted cast on to swatch using my US 7 needles. I knit garter for the first two stitches of each row, and a (knit 1, sl1wyif) on the last two stitches of each row. I knit 11 repeats of the 4-row checkerboard pattern in between. This gave me enough fabric to measure the swatch.
I knit my swatch flat, and the gauge in the pattern is in rounds. But unblocked, I got 19 stitches x 34 rows with the US 7 needles (which was already too big before blocking) so I ripped it back and swatched again with US 6 (4mm) needles.
The US 6 needles gave me 20 stitches x 36 rows, unblocked. I was spot on with the stitches and a little off on the row gauge so I bound of with Jenny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off and wet blocked it. I didn’t use any pins; I just laid it out and sort of lightly pulled and flattened it to how I thought the fabric was naturally laying.
Once it was dry, I measured the blocked dimensions and I got 20 stitches x 34 rows. This was pretty close to exact gauge so I decided to use the US 6 as my size A needles for the main fabric.
CASTING ON
With my gauge all sorted, I was excited to cast on. I sized down all my needles by one size from the pattern, so my needles were:
- Size A – US 6
- Size B – US 4
I was knitting the size 4 sweater, so I went through and highlighted all the relevant stitch counts for that size. But as I was reading through the Body section, it referred me to another page in the pattern for the Tubular cast on.
I read through the Special Technique on the 1×1 Tubular Method and I didn’t like it. I have knit a tubular cast on before, so I just did it the way I am familiar with.
Provisional Cast On
To knit the Tubular Cast On, I used my US 4 needles on a 14″ cable. I provisionally cast on exactly half the required total number of hem stitches using a crochet hook.
So I took some scrap yarn in a contrasting color and tied a small knot at the end. Then I made a slip knot and chained a few stitches with the crochet hook. Next, I started the provisional cast on by crocheting around my knitting needle. For my size 4 sweater, I cast on 114 stitches. Then I did a few more chain stitches in the scrap yarn before cutting it from the ball.
Then to knit the tubular cast on:
With Main Yarn, (k1, yo) to the end
Round 1: place stitch marker and join in the round. (k1, sl1wyif)
Round 2: (sl1wyib, p1)
Round 3: (k1, sl1wyif)
Round 4: (sl1wyib, p1)
k = knit
yo = yarn over
sl1wyif = slip one with yarn in front
sl1wyib = slip one with yarn in back
p = purl
Once the four rounds are complete, the cast on is secure and you can begin the 1×1 ribbing rounds. When you are ready to remove the scrap yarn/provisional cast on, remove the scrap yarn from the end without the knot.
As I knit a few rounds of the 1×1 ribbing, I transferred my needles over to a 30″ cable for more room. Then once I had a couple inches of ribbing and knew my cast on couldn’t get twisted, I removed the scrap yarn. Like I mentioned, I wanted to knit the sweater slightly more cropped, so I knit my hem ribbing to 6cm instead of the 7.5cm listed in the pattern.
BODY
The body setup round has you increase stitches and place a stitch marker on the side to indicate pattern repeat. The pattern specifically states to omit placing another stitch marker on the second repeat which would be the BOR. So I took that to mean just not to have two markers in the same spot…because I wasn’t going to remove my BOR.
In fact, I even placed extra stitch markers. I had my BOR, then I had markers around the 9 ribbed stitches on either side of the sweater, and then the exact side middle that the pattern said to place. I also had a removable stitch marker attached to the ribbing to identify the RS of the sweater. The more the merrier!
I switched to my US 6 needles and began to work the body chart. I used ptbl (purl through the back loop) instead of the purl stitches on the sides in the rib pattern for a crisp twisted rib.
I tracked the body repeats on my iPad, moving back and forth for each grouping of repeats. Using the math from my swatch, I knit the body of my sweater to 30cm (excluding the hem).
Divide for Front and Back
I was excited to move onto dividing for the front and back. I insert a lifeline before the split just incase something went wrong and I needed to restart.
I followed the pattern and bound off the stitches along the side ribbing/under arms. Then I split my front and back stitches onto two different cables and needles. I had another set of US 6 needles from my Chiaogoo shorties set that I used for the front panel.
Front Yoke
With the sweater divided into the front and back panels, the checkerboard stitch was now knit flat with a ‘GSS’ stitch on each end.
I’ve never heard of the GSS (garter stitch selvedge) before, so I flipped to the abbreviations page to find that it’s just a k1 at the beginning and end of every row. It says it’s used because it’s particularly elastic and appropriate for shaped edges of fabric.
I placed an orange stitch marker on front side to mark RS and started the front yoke. Getting started on front panel was a little confusing at first. For my size 4 sweater, I slid the first stitch connected to the working yarn over to my right needle as the pattern said, and I skipped the very first GSS. For my right leaning decrease, I worked a k2tog. Then a k1 to continue in the established pattern. Then (p2,k2) until the last 3 stitches where I did ssk and a k1 (for the GSS).
Once I finished the armhole decrease section, I continued the checkerboard stitch as written. I tracked each row that I knit in case I needed to match that length on the back panel. Using my swatch math, I knit until 15cm for this straight section.
Neck + Shoulder Shaping
I thought the neck shaping section was really clearly written. I followed everything as written and joined the second ball of yarn after the neck bind off row.
The decreases were clear and then I continued the pattern evenly until the front measured 21cm from the stitch marker. I continued to knit a GSS on the sleeve edge as well even though it wasn’t mentioned.
Shoulders
The shoulder section refers to the special techniques section on page 19, but that’s actually the abbreviations page. I found the short row technique section on page 18. I read through it and hoped that would be enough information for me to work the shoulders. I insert a lifeline here in case I needed to rip back, but this section went by pretty smoothly. I finished the shoulders and bound off.
Back Yoke
I was glad I had tracked the rows while knitting the front yoke because I felt I could sort of relax and just knit. I’d already done the work in measuring and calculating gauge. So I just knit to the number of rows and then measured to double check. This section was all good, so I bound off per the pattern.
SLEEVES
I used a 4mm crochet hook to provisionally cast on 29 stitches, then knit the tubular set-up rounds as I did with the hem. With my chiaogoo shorties US 4 2″ needles on a 5″ cable, I began the cuff ribbing.
I followed the pattern and started the sleeve increase repeats. I used a ptbl instead of purl stitches in the underarm/side ribbing section as I did in the body. After working 5 increases, I started to get a little worried if the sleeves were pacing to be too long. I had read some notes on Ravelry where others said the sleeves turned out super long. According to the pattern, I still 8 more increase repeats to go before working the sleeve caps, and I knew my fabric was also going to grow with blocking. So I decided to put the sleeve on pause and start working the second sleeve up to that same point. Then I would take a look at the math and see if I should make adjustments to my increases.
I knit up the second sleeve to the same point and I noticed it wasn’t the same size. I guess in my haste to get this second sleeve caught up, I knit with a tighter gauge. So I ripped it all back and knit the second sleeve a second time. 😪 Once I was happy with both sleeves, I continued to knit both to pattern. I insert lifelines after the increase rows just in case I needed to rip back later.
Yarn Concerns
I was working each sleeve from its own ball of yarn. But after binding off and working the decreases flat, I realized that I might not have enough yarn to finish this project. Not only that, but in measuring the flat sleeve cap, it was projecting to be too long.
I was getting frustrated. I knew I was cutting it close with the yarn by buying only 6 balls. But by knitting a slightly cropped hem, cuffs, and body, I’d hoped that would be enough. And I had been accounting for the length I’d gain with blocking, so the sleeve cap shouldn’t have been as long as it was and I still had 14 more rows to knit. :/ I decided to make some modifications.
Modification: Accelerated Decreases
Once my yarn ran out on one sleeve, I focused solely on just finishing the other. I decided to decrease on every row until I reached the final stitch count and then bind off. I made that decision because I was already near the required depth of the sleeve cap and I was running low on yarn.
So for the Shape Cap section, I knit the pattern as written until the final set of “then every other row” repeats. Then, I knit the first three repeats as written, and then I worked repeats on every row (WS and RS) for the following 6 rows when I reached the final stitch count. I knit a WS row and bound off as written.
BLOCKING
From there I washed and blocked the body and the single sleeve I’d completed. I wanted to see if the modifications I made were even going to work. Or if the sleeve was going to be too long, maybe I’d need to rip back anyway. Might as well wait to finish the second sleeve to see how it worked out.
With blocking, my sweater seemed to grow a lot. I used the schematic to pin the sleeve and the body to the dimensions. The sleeve seemed to meet the dimensions pretty naturally, but the body I guess grew more than expected. Because although my gauge had been close, pinning the body to the dimensions was more of a struggle. I was scrunching and patting the fabric to sort of prevent it from stretching so much. Trying to pat it down into place was frustrating. With so much extra fabric here that I needed to mush it back in place, I couldn’t help but think about how I was playing yarn chicken with the second sleeve and the collar. I only had 19g of yarn left and I was pretty sure that wouldn’t be enough. I could also unravel my swatch, but I was already contemplating buying another ball.
SET-IN SLEEVE PLANNING
As my sweater was blocking, I started looking up videos on how to seam a set-in sleeve. A lot of the videos I found had the sleeve knit flat, so you could easily line up the sleeve to the arm hole. I felt frustrated again because all the pattern says about the sleeves is, “Sew Sleeve caps into Armholes”.
I know how to seam using mattress stitch, but I was uncertain about getting a good fit within the armhole. What points should be lining up? How to prevent bulk? I almost feel like it would have been easier to knit the sleeve flat so I could get a good look at where to join everything.
Finishing Second Sleeve
I really wanted to finish this sweater before Thanksgiving, so I decided to just finish the second sleeve. The first sleeve blocked to measurements, so if for some reason I needed to rip back, I would just have to rip both back. It was more important to me to have both sleeves blocked and ready.
I knit the second sleeve as far as I could before running out of yarn. I decided to unravel my swatch and use that yarn first before moving on to the 19g ball I had remaining. Surprisingly, that swatch yarn went further than I expected and I finished the sleeve with yarn to spare. I was feeling hopeful I would have enough to knit the collar completely.
SEAMING
Shoulder Seaming
I started with seaming the shoulders as the pattern states. This way I could know where to line up the top center of the sleeve. I used two strands of sock yarn for seaming to 1) conserve my already limited sweater yarn, and 2) to provide a little strength with the nylon while being a thinner yarn.
I used removable stitch markers to join the front shoulder panels with the back. I wanted to map out the beginnings, ends, and center. I used a darning needle and my two strands of sock yarn to begin seaming with the mattress stitch.
The shoulder seaming was easy enough and I thought the mattress stitch join looked great. I was dreading moving on to the set-in sleeve though but with my self-imposed Thanksgiving deadline, I got ready to seam the sleeves.
How I Knit a Set-In Sleeve
The sleeves were a little trickier. I used removable stitch markers to first join the top center of the sleeve cap to the seam of the shoulder, then 3 markers to join the ribbed underarm panels together. Because the sleeve was knit in the round, I did my best to place up stitch markers evenly between the top and bottom markers, and then in between each of those markers. Having already blocked both fabrics made it easier to sort of lay the pieces together. I was working on a large flat surface and ended up placing 14 stitch markers.
I found the sleeve shape overall was difficult to fit into the armhole and I would have appreciated more direction from the pattern on how to make this work, or maybe a photo tutorial.
Sleeve Seaming
I used two strands of sock yarn held together to seam my sleeves. I pulled long lengths of yarn from my working ball so I would have enough. I chose to start the mattress stitch at the top of the shoulder seam and work down toward the underarm one half of the sleeve at a time. So to start, I inserted the yarn through the shoulder seam and then left the remaining yarn on the ball to later work the second half of seaming.
I used mattress stitch down one half of the sleeve/arm toward the center of the underarm ribbing, and then I came back to the ball of yarn and cut long lengths to mattress stitch along the other half of the armhole. So both tails of the yarn met in the bottom center of the arm, inside the center ribbed panel.
Here’s some pictures to show what I did:
The seaming took me so long. I was being really careful to line up the stitches. And making adjustments to ensure the number of stitches lined up before hitting the next stitch marker. This part was really frustrating.
After seaming both sleeves, I was ready for this sweater to be done. I didn’t think the seaming join looked great, but maybe it would look better when worn? I felt like the seams were bulky and thought I would need to block this whole sweater again before it could be wearable.
COLLAR
The next day, I started working on the collar using the remaining 19g of yarn on the ball. If I needed it, there was also a little bit of yarn left from my swatch I could use.
I was surprised how involved the collar section was. It used 4 needle sizes! I started out by placing stitch markers along the neckline to help me evenly pick up the required number of stitches.
Picking up and knitting the ribbing was fun and I thought I would be wrapping up this sweater in no time. But this tiny 3″ collar took me so long. And the seaming to fold the collar was slow going. I think I was just frustrated, but along the way, my working yarn broke and I considered if I actually should have been using the sock yarn here as well.
I continued the collar using the sweater yarn and trying to keep the bind off loose/comfortable. I ended the collar with some yarn to spare! I think the collar looked nice but it also looked like it would benefit from some blocking.
I’ve never double blocked a sweater before but then I read in the pattern to Steam Finish the sweater to relax the seams, etc.
STEAM BLOCKING
I did have a steam iron, but it didn’t seem to help remove wrinkles on other knits I’ve used it on. I was willing to try and see if it would smooth down these bulky seams.
Unfortunately, I don’t think it did much, so I will wet block the sweater again. But that’s for another day; I’m counting this sweater done.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The De Rerum Natura РGilliatt in Aub̩pine is beautiful. I loved working with this yarn. It is bouncy, and soft. The color is gorgeous. I would love to use this yarn again.
The checkerboard stitch is beautiful and it was easy to memorize the pattern. As long as you can read your knitting, you won’t have any problems.
The Fort sweater is also really nice. I am happy with the sweater overall, but it would be a while before I think I’d want to knit this again.
I think I went into this pattern with an unfair bias because it was $13. The pattern is fine, and had it been $8-9, I probably wouldn’t have been so critical. But when the pattern is priced higher than other similar or even more complicated patterns, I expect a little more. Little things — like incorrect page references, the layout issues, and the varying levels of detail I mentioned — made this pattern a little frustrating.
Thanks so much for reading and I hope this post helps you with your knitting! Check out my Ravelry to see my other projects and what I’m working on next.
