sweater patterns

[to_love_a_rose]

You guys have been super helpful lately, and I'm hoping you can help me out again. I'm feeling rather confident in my knitting lately, and I think I'd like to tackle a sweater. I've been all over Ravelry and Knitty and everywhere else I can think of, but nothing is jumping out at me as exactly what I'm looking for.

Can anyone recommend a sweater pattern that's good for an advanced beginner? I'd like something knit flat, not in the round. Ideally, it'll be something with shaping at the waist and a bit of negative ease built in since I like my clothing fitted. Something with ribbing and maybe a few simple cables would be nice, but no lace patterns or color work, please. A cardigan is preferred, but I'll take a pull-over as well since I could use both in my closet. I usually only look for free patterns, but I'd be willing to pay a few dollars if necessary to get the pattern I really want.

Or, can anyone suggest a good tutorial for designing your own pattern? I have an idea of what I'd like pretty clearly in my head, but I've never made a pattern for anything so complicated as a sweater.

Comments

[pinesandmaples]

If you want a series of generic templates where most of the math has been done for you and you can drop in a design element or two (like some cables), I would recommend Ann Budd's The Knitter’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns: Basic Designs in Multiple Sizes and Gauges as a reference book.

Other patterns I like that would be easy to acquire:

Royce would need long sleeves, but adding sleeves is really easy.

Central Park Hoodie sans hood.

Nantucket Jacket is just about perfect. The cables are simple, with beautiful effect.

Classic Slant Cardigan has a cable up the slant, but you could always add a few cables in place of ribs with no ill effect.

I like these last two as well, but they're harder to track down (because they're from books or leaflets instead of downloads):

Woolen Cashmere Twinset Cardigan mimics what people buy in stores, but it's so pretty!

Fitted Cable Jacket uses an interesting cable to help with the fit.