I’ve been inspired by customers – ever since I started to carry B&L yarns, my most enthusiastic supporters have been from Japan. The most popular varieties are Super and Country Roving, and I wish I could read japanese so that I could follow their blogs and find out what they are making. But it’s a pretty safe bet that they making cowichan style sweaters.

Oona loves everything japanese, so jumped at the chance when I asked her  if she’d like a cowichan style jacket. Funny story: in one of my favorite plays, there is quite an argument between the two characters as to whether a garment is a sweater or a jacket. When I designed the costumes for it so many years ago, those lines brought to mind my father’s old zipped cardigan – my grandmother had knit it using a Mary Maxim pattern and lined it throughout.

Years later, Marcel was cast in the role of Ernest and the costume designer found a pictorial Mary Maxim for him on Ebay. Maybe it’s because I’m now a knitter (I wasn’t for the first go-round of Ernest and Ernestine), but I found the costume choice hilarious.

Back to Oona’s SweaterJacket – real Cowichan sweaters are  knit using thick single-ply handspun yarn (it should also be noted that only authentic garments made by the Cowichan band on Canada’s west coast have a right to be designated as ‘Cowichan Sweaters’. As such, no hand knitting yarn has been commercially produced which can be said to be authentic). Over the years, several companies have offered yarn specifically for this type of knitting – White Buffalo and Briggs & Little among them. Since White Buffalo yarn has been discontinued, many now opt for country roving but, sadly, it isn’t available in a clear, bright yellow – and Oona is all about yellow. So, I’ll be using Super.

The yarns I chose can be seen above and here is my sketch. Next, I’ll need to swatch and draft my pattern pieces.

*this photograph has nothing to do with this post – I just can’t bring myself to post without any images…

Ever since I taught a class about custom fitting your knits in Iceland, I’ve been mulling over discussing the issue on this blog. Before I begin, I think it would be best to talk about where we are (usually) starting from in order to best illustrate the concepts used to alter garments for one’s figure.

To start with, one needs to know which size most knitting patterns are calibrated for. Whether we are talking about knitting patterns, sewing patterns or even ready to wear, a garment is designed in what is called a sample size before being graded to fit other sizes. This varies, but only slightly, from one maker to the next – the measurements used are typically about 34.5″ around the fullest part of the bust, while the waist and hip respectively measure 26.5″ and 37.5″. Furthermore, this sample size measures 5’7″ and wears a B cup.

In ready to wear, this size is often designated as a 4. In sewing patterns, these measurements would be a little larger than a 12 through the bust and hips. Coincidently, have any of you ever heard that Marilyn Monroe wore a 16? Many like to use this fact in order to make a point about today’s women being held up to slimness standards not seen in Marilyn’s day. The problem with this assertion is that clothing sizes have changed since Marilyn’s day – I just grabbed one of my vintage patterns, and a 16 is marked as being 34-28-37. In other words, quite close to today’s size 4 (I have to admit that the fact that the waist size was larger when women wore girdles makes me pause for a moment).

I’ve asserted before that sample sizes vary from one manufacturer or make to another, and it does. It isn’t really as foolish as it seems, though – in ready to wear (RTW) , manufacturers need to address their customer base as best they can and different age groups have different fit concerns. So this may explain why one store’s size 4 fits one woman better than another’s. If this a subject you find yourself particularly interested in, I would suggest reading Fashion-Incubator, Kathleen Fasanella‘s blog. She posted a very thorough discussion on vanity sizing a while back which I have found fascinating.

I hope that all this discussion about sizes versus measurements have made one point amply clear – it isn’t enough to look for one’s size and one should rather look at the finished measurements of the desired garment. This is very, very important when regarding knitting patterns as the alpha sizing has absolutely nothing to do with RTW but rather uses letters in addition to measurements in order to avoid long strings of numbers in the pattern when directions are given for only a few of the sizes. It can be confusing to someone who expects a knitting pattern to match their RTW size  - a pattern containing 8 sizes separated by a grading increment of 2″ would likely result in a  large with a finished measurement of 38″ whereas a RTW large often designates an actual bust measurement closer to 40″. In this case, a string of finished measurements like these:

32 (34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 48)”

And would result in a string of alpha sizes such as these:

XS (XS, S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3Xl, 4XL)

I can also assure you that an off the peg 4XL will not have a finished circumference of 48″, unless said garment contains lycra in its fabric.

Note that I’ve talked about actual body measurements and finished measurements – knitting patterns differ from sewing patterns and RTW in that they present the knitter with finished measurements whereas the latter present sizes. Sewers (sewists? seamstresses?) pick a pattern and must consult the paper pattern or measure it in order to determine its finished measurements (they also often sew a mock garment called a ‘muslin’ out of inexpensive fabric to test the fit, but I doubt I’ll be convincing knitters to do the same anytime soon). So, Knitters not only need to know what their actual body measurements are but also need to know how much ease is needed in order to choose the appropriate size to knit from in a pattern. We’re told that ease is a matter of preference, but that is only true to a certain point – if a garment’s silhouette is supposed to be close fitting, a knitter should not attempt to knit a version with 6″ or more of ease as the fit would be poor throughout as a result.

The terms used in this table will be familiar to those who sew – sewing patterns include written description which detail the fit as well as any feature of the pattern, such as pockets. Unfortunately, knitting patterns don’t indicate in the description what kind of silhouette the garment is designed. Some indicate how much ease, but knitters must often use their own judgement to determine how much ease to add to their actual body measurements.

Which wouldn’t be so hard if we were all 5’7″ and wore a B cup… we’d just add however much ease we need to our actual bust measurement and choose the appropriate finished measurement.

That’s enough for now – one day, I’ll explain how grading is done when it comes to knitting patterns. In the meantime, please ask any questions you may have in the comment section- I’ll check in and answer to the best of my abilities.

A while back, I described several ways of altering Silver Streak in order to make it into a shorter cardigan. At that point, I simply discussed how one might go about modifying the length, but didn’t explain how to calculate even spaced decreases or increases.

Knowing how to adjust length is you first tool towards custom fitting your knitwear – patterns are written with an average size in mind and while the circumference may fit you with nary an adjustment, you’ll want to adjust some length if you’re shorter or taller than 5’6″.

Before you can begin to calculate your increases or decreases (the formula is the same for both), you need to translate your length into rows. Let’s take a simple sleeve as our example: we intend for it be 19″ long and our row gauge is 7.5sts/1″, therefore we’ll need 142 rows to complete it (it really was 142.5 rows but we knitters prefer even numbers). We need to work even for about an half an inch before binding off, so lets take off 6 rows to bring down the number of rows to 136. This will be our dividend or ‘A’.

This sleeve begins with 60 sts at the wrist and increases to 88 sts at the bicep for a difference of 28 sts. Since the increases will be worked in pairs, however, we need to divide this number in two to obtain the number by which to increase – 14. This will be our divisor or ‘B’.

Easy enough so far. The next part is what I can never remember by myself – others keep notes for working the kitchener stitch, I keep notes on this. You’ll probably find it helpful to add tags such as I do here (A, B, C, etc) if you’re anything like me. Once you understand the concept, the illustration above will suffice.

First, divide A by B: 136/14=9.7 (‘C’)
Had C been a whole number(such as it would have been had you started with 126 instead of 136), you’d have no need for further calculations and could simply increase every 9 rows. I know what you’re thinking: every 9 rows?!? Don’t worry, we’ll talk about how to obtain nice, even numbers in a minute.

Second, multiply B by C: 14*9=126 (‘D’)

Third, subtract D from A: 136-126=10 (‘E’)

Fourth, subtract E from B: 14-10=4 (‘F’)

Finally, here are our results:

Increase on every 10(C+1)rows 10(E)times
Increase on every 9(C)rows 4(F)times

Again, the result would have us work increases every 9 rows. In order to obtain increases only on right side rows, we need to run the calculation in a somewhat modified manner by halving A and doubling ‘C+1′ and ‘C’ in the results:

136/2=68

68/14=4.8 (‘C’)
14*4=56 (‘D’)
68-56=12 (‘E’)
14-12=2 (‘F’)

Increase on every 5(C+1)rows 12(E)times
Increase on every 4(C)rows 2(F)times

Double the results from ‘C+1′ and ‘C’, and we end up with ‘increase on every 10th row 12 times and on every foll 8th row 2 times’

That’s it. Next time you’re planning a sweater, take a few minutes to compare its schematic against a sweater that fits you well and make adjustments as needed. It only takes a few minutes and you’ll soon be custom fitting every sweater you knit.

I considered writing a full post containing all my notes for Silver streak, but decided to split it up – I’m a slow writer with a full schedule and this might be easier to navigate. Remember, comments and questions are always welcome.

Most of the time, length alterations are the easiest things to change about a pattern, particularly in the case of body length, as only rudimentary subtraction is needed. For example, take the back of ‘Silver Streak’ (figure A.): if you only need to take off a couple of inches, you’d work 1.5” instead of 3.5” before beginning to decrease. It’s a little more complicated to remove something like 6”, but barely – just figure out how many stitches should be there and cast on accordingly.

In this case, 83 sts were cast on for the smallest size and were worked even for 3.5”. Since the gauge is 6 rows to the inch, the first decrease row of the pattern falls on row 21. Subsequent decreases follow on every 14th row, and will therefore fall on rows 35, 49, 63, 77 and 91. Since only 36 rows would need to be deducted for the new length, all you’d need to do is cast 4 fewer sts and work for 2.25” (about 13-14 rows) instead of 3.5”.

The front’s a different story – increases are worked from hem to neckline, as can be seen in the smallest size’s chart at the top of this post.

In order to alter the length of this piece (the original schematic with the patterned section shaded in blue is shown in figure B.), there are two choices: One, you could calculate how many increases should be where the new hem will sit and cast on accordingly as for the back. Two, you could cast on as in the pattern but increase more often.

Both have advantages and disadvantages: the former’s front hem will be comprised of two different angles, but will provide more coverage since the front edges do not sit at a steeper angle than the original cardigan (fig D.; no, they’re not in order);

the latter’s hem will be pretty much straight, but might recall a cutaway jacket due to the more acute angle (figure C.).

In any case, calculating regularly spaced increases calls for the same calculations needed to recalculate a sleeve’s length or how to distribute increases (or decreases) evenly across a row. I’ll go on in detail about how to go about it in Part Two another day, but the impatient can google ‘magic formula knit’ to find out more.

Since there is an unprecedented amount of viewers here today (thanks to Stephanie – can I take you up on that beer if I end up in T.O.?), I think it’s a good time to talk about binding off.

Some knitters know and use oodles of techniques for casting on and binding off (Montse Stanley list 40 COs and 19 BOs on her Knitter’s Handbook), but I only use a few on a regular basis. Like just about everybody, I use the long tail cast on the most. However, I only ever use the chain bind off on edges which will be invisible (shoulders, back neck, etc…) For visible edges, I mostly use a sewn bind off which emulates the long tail cast one: it looks better (IMHO) and is more flexible that the chain BO.

For some reason, I thought that I learned this from Ms. Stanley, and that’s what I told Stephanie. Turns out that this is not so – Knitter’s Handbook shows the right to left method while I usually work from left to right.Today, I’ll demonstrate the latter and will save the former for another day.

As a side note: Montse Stanley calls this the ‘Stem Stitch Bind Off’ and I’ve also seen this technique referred to as ‘cast on cast off’ and ‘sewn bind off’. I find this confusing, so will refer to it as ‘Long tail Bind Off’ from now on).

Moving on…

First things first: whether I’m casting on or binding off, I measure the long tail by wrapping the yarn around my needle about 10 times, then doubling the yarn until the number of stitches have been approximated. I then add a few inches for weaving in (if this was a garment piece and I was casting on, I’d also add enough to sew up one side).

Thread the yarn thought a tapestry needle and insert into the second stitch from the front.

Insert into the first stitch from the back…

… and drop the first stitch off the needle.

Continue as such until all the stitches have been bound off.

Stay tuned for the right to left method!

The stitch pattern in this cardigan is simple, but a little uncommon. The stitch count varies from row to row: decreases occur on the right side while yarnovers occur on the wrong side. It’s also asymmetrical, as can be seen below. As a result, there isn’t a type of decrease which will work everywhere in the pattern: what looks good on row 3 of the pattern at the beginning of the row may not look as nice on row 5. In addition, the pattern is a little hard to read – since the stitch count changes form row to row, it isn’t possible to count stitches either to ensure we’re on target (well, it is possible – but one has to pay attention and I tend to knit while watching fairly engrossing movies so…)

What all this means is that sometime it’s necessary to improvise. Look at your knitting and do what you think looks right. To demonstrate this, I photographed a swatch I was knitting at different stages (I didn’t have any Soft Linen at the time, so I used Reynolds Saucy).

Here we are, about to begin shaping in the lace pattern. I’ve placed a marker 4 sts from the edge on the side where I wish to decrease and a marker 1 stitch from the edge where I wish to increase.

Row 5 has been completed. Note that I stayed in pattern on the decreasing side as it made sense to do so since the pattern decreases 1 stitch anyhow. Had the decrease fallen on row 3 or 7, I would have worked thus: k1(selv.), k1, k2tog.

Back at row 5, since the decreases occur on every 4th row. There were too few stitches for ‘k2, k2tog’, so I worked a k2tog right after the selvedge stitch.

On to the third decrease and the opportunity to get fussy: I like my decreases to be decorative or to be incorporated into the stitch pattern as much as possible. In this case, I prefer the latter. Note that I have only 1 stitch left between the selvedge stitch and the pattern. I do not want to decrease with the selvedge stitch because I find my seams aren’t as attractive that way, but I do not want to delay my pattern stitch either. So, I’ll work the stitch pattern and decrease at the same time.

To do so, I need to change the order of the 2nd and 3rd stitch (side note: I could have treated sts 2 and 3 as one stitch but it wouldn’t have worked here because they would have been slipped as one over the following two sts) . I’ve knit the first stitch and dropped the second momentarily; the right needle has caught the third stitch while the left needle caught the second: stitches 2 and 3 have now switched positions.

Next, I continue in pattern (sort of): instead of ‘Sl1, k2, psso’, I’ve worked ‘Sl1, k2tog, k1, psso’. That’s it.

The completed row. I’m done decreasing for now on the right hand side. Time to work the new stitches on the left into the pattern. Easy. Just start the pattern on the next right side row after the marker which will move back to its position next to the selvedge stitch if there are any more increases to be made.

See?