Fiber Fool

Designing a sweater for yourself can be a nerve-wracking undertaking. Yes, I have Donna Druchunas’ hand holding via Ethnic Knitting Discovery (EKD), along with many other experienced and talented authors of books such as Knitting in the Old Way (KITOW), The Knitter’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns (KHBSP), and Designing Knitwear, I even have the ear and inbox of some other experienced and talented knitters who knit with me weekly such as Amanda, Ashley, and Deb (in alphabetical order so as to not offend). Yet I’ve had the yarn for probably nearly a month now and I hadn’t cast on.

Yes, I did have for a while a more pressing deadline project, though it required different physical and mental muscles than my Norwegian Boatneck project which could have been a welcome break from the other tasks. Yet, I never turned to this project for my break knitting. Yes, it will require more attention than socks. Yes, it required some calculations and re-planning due to the huge difference in row gauge from what I expected and what I actually got. But, really with only an hour or so of effort the sweater would be ready to get started on (if I hadn’t switched spreadsheet software anyway). In fact, since I plan to knit the sleeves first to double check my gauge with my oversized swatch, I could have cast on with less calculations and re-planning. Yet, I didn’t.

I had decided last week that I would cast on and get started on Monday. As of Thursday afternoon I still hadn’t committed to the final measurements of the sweater and thus hadn’t refined the original design or cast-on. Instead, I’ve logged most of my stashed handspun on Ravelry. I’ve caught up on my Ravelry groups. I’ve caught up on my blog reading (mostly). I’ve spun more yarn for a project I want to knit, but didn’t really have time to spin for or knit right now. I’ve checked and rechecked sizing for similarly constructed sweaters in magazines, on-line, and in books. I’ve measured all of my non-ribbed sweaters in my closet, none of which are constructed in the same manner as my Norwegian Boatneck will be, so it doesn’t help me that much to know their measurements.

I do have some decisions made. It will be a modified drop shoulder, boatneck sweater with picot hems at the cuff and body bottom. The colors have been chosen (duh, if the yarn has been here for a month). I am going to put some shaping in because the mid-section will just be lice, which accommodates shaping just fine and plus-sized bods that have shaping should have plus-sized clothes that have some shaping, even if that isn’t traditional for that type of sweater. I also know that the bust measurement is going to be slightly less than the hip measurement.

I still had decisions that needed to be made though. What should the hip measurement be? In an informal poll at SnB I found that despite my larger size than everyone else, a few others have roughly the same bust/hip differences that I do and to my knowledge they don’t normally knit a larger sized bottom to their sweaters. Though the initial reaction to my measurements was to put more ease into the hip area of the sweater than into the bust area. Yet, very few of my store bought tops (sweaters and tees alike) have larger bottoms than the chest, even those that are shaped. The tops that I do have that were cut bottom heavy I dislike the fit of. I think they look like maternity tops when I wear them. The only exception is a CJ Banks sweater that has a few extra ribs at the bottom; but it is a ribbed sweater so it just skims your natural curves. I was actually surprised to note that they bothered to shape the sweater. That is often a rarity in moderately priced store bought knits in my experience. So I’m reluctant to even match my chest ease at the hips. That would make for an obviously tent shaped A-line garment. Plus, books like Righetti advocate negative ease at the hip to avoid sweater growth. Though I suspect that is a better practice when using ribbing than a picot hem.

Of course if I am going to start with the sleeves, why hadn’t I cast-on and pondered these issues while working the sleeves? Well, because I of course couldn’t decide on the proper sleeve circumference either. I think I’ve settled on the wrist circumference. But what about the top circumference and arm hole depth? I was measured at 11 inches. Following the various books I’ve consulted it should be 12.5-13 inches deep. Measuring my sweaters I get 9.5-10 inches, though none are of a drop or modified drop construction, though their measures correspond pretty closely to those in KHBSP for their given construction methods. I obviously don’t want the sleeves so tight that it restricts movement and that is why drop and modified drop shoulder sweaters require a greater armhole depth. But, as a plus-sized woman with a decent chest, I don’t need a bunch of extra fabric bunched up around my arm pits either - not to mention that wouldn’t mesh with the silhouette if I’m giving it a bit of shaping. It has also been my experience that frequently once clothing gets up to the chest circumference in my neck of the woods the proportions and dimensions start to match up with a man’s body more than a woman’s. At this point I think I’ve decided to go with the 11 inch depth because I’m so short waisted the 12.75” armhole depth would have the sleeve coming straight out of my waist. Not to mention, even with a larger cuff than I normally care for, the increase rate of the sleeve was crazy. With the 11” depth and thus 22” sleeve circumference at the top the increase rate is a bit better.

At this point I was questioning and likely over thinking too much and it fed my procrastination. I needed something to pull me out of this spiral. Enter NaKnitSweMo (on Ravelery)! Corresponding with DH’s participation in NaNoWriMo, it is perfect. It also gives me a deadline (which I am moving up slightly so this sweater is done, washed, blocked, and dried in time to take it with me to MN when I leave on the 29th - I’m aiming for the 25th I think). I am allowing myself to continue to spin in this time period and I can continue on the socks I started while we were on vacation, but they are only to be knit on to give my hands a break from the bigger needles or when I am still on the sleeves and knitting in public. I am not allowed to seek out knitting in public as an excuse to avoid the sweater and the only reason I can knit the sock when working on the sleeves is that sleeves will require 8 balls of yarn attached, which I don’t consider very portable. In reality now that the sleeves have hit the lice section I think it’ll be portable enough for SnB tonight. Though given that I’m just starting the lice on the sleeves today I am having my doubts that this will be done before I leave for MN.

Wish me luck!

Yikes! I’ve been using a spreadsheet to help me chart my boatneck sweater. The scientific/geek side of me said, “Kristi, you have the whole sweater charted in the spreadsheet, why not use that to help you estimate the yardage you’ll need of each of the four colors?”

The easily overwhelmed side of me replied with, “OMG, in the process of doing so I have estimated there to be a total of 52,328 stitches in the sweater, excluding facings and steeking stitches! FIFTY TWO THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED TWENTY EIGHT STITCHES!”

Oy! & Vey! (as DH would say)

The proud side of me said, “Wow, your guesses of the color percentages were not too far off!”

If you need me, I’ll be swatching to see how much that outrageous number will be changing when I stop estimating my expected gauge and adjust for the actual gauge…

ETA: Don’t forget I’m a plus-sized gal so I have more stitches than the average person! :-)

I am currently working on designing a sweater using the techniques from the soon to be released Ethnic Knitting Discovery by Donna Druchunas. The finished sweater is to be a part of an online gallery to complement the book at ethnicknitting.com. This book starts with the simplest of ethnic sweaters in terms of techniques and design and walks you through a small sample/useful swatch project and a couple of sweaters from four different regions – Denmark, The Netherlands, Norway, and the Andes. It is the first in a series that I understand will address increasingly complex ethnic knitting.

The patterns in the book are really non-patterns. But, don’t freak out about that! Even if you are patently not a designer or even if you are a bit afraid of the math involved you can knit a sweater from this book. There are three different worksheets for every project so you can choose the one that works for you. The first is just a schematic on which you note your dimensions and gauge and you just fly by wire, working off of the graphic. The second provides some more hand holding by giving you a chart to fill in with all the important numbers and the notes you need to do the math ahead of time. The third worksheet will hold your hand through every single step, helping you to fill in the numbers but still providing you with step-by-step direction on how to knit and assemble the sweater. For me, because I’m an experienced knitter who has stayed away from garments for myself for a variety of reasons through the years I’ll probably end up using a conglomeration of all three.

I am working on the Norwegian Boatneck sweater (those of you who have been around for a while, or were at least here for last winter’s baking activities are probably wondering what took me so long to start a project like this). There are some traditional stitch patterns and guidance on making one as shown in the book illustration with the yarn gauge of your choice and sized to fit you. I am mixing up the stitch patterns to make it a unique sweater, just for me. I’m also borrowing a few things from the following chapter such as a modified drop shoulder rather than the standard drop shoulder because I’m not a traditionalist. Ha, ha, I know some of you are laughing at that. Okay, let me put it another way – just because a given construction is the traditional way does not mean I won’t make modifications so that the finished garment will be more flattering on my plus-sized frame.

Even before I started choosing my stitch motifs and the final dimensions (still not 100% decided on that since I own nothing with this type of construction from which to take measurements) the first step was choosing the colors of the sweater. I could have stuck with the traditional black/ivory/red color combo, but I already have a sweater in that color combination in my closet. Oh what a game choosing colors can be! Especially when you don’t have a photo of an already completed version of the sweater to analyze.

My poor, poor friends and family have been inundated with schematics approximating the color combo choices of the yarn I will be using for this sweater (Suri Merino from Plymouth if you were wondering) all week long. Amanda in particular has been scrutinizing nearly every single option I have pulled from my hat. Others have felt utterly overwhelmed at the variety I came up with (and if you are reading this and thinking I’m talking about you – you were not alone).

It is in this process of choosing my colors that I realized you all may enjoy following along in my design process and decision making on this. It should give you a good sense of Ethnic Knitting Discovery and the infinite sweater possibilities it and the rest of the series can provide you. I hope it also reminds me of the decisions I made along the way so I can write a helpful abbreviated diary to go along with the sweater photo at ethnicknitting.com.

Going through the color choices also reminded me of the struggle and uncertainty many feel in choosing colors for their projects. I often feel I have a good inner color sense and I also have the training and experience from my pre-knitting life to back me up, yet I was waffling on my color choices - BIG TIME. So, I think I will also be addressing some color theory as applied to knitting (though really what I talk about will be applicable to most any craft) in the coming weeks.

At this point I am thinking of touching on these topics:

• Ways in which yarns and color can contrast
• Common color harmonies and how to use them to aid you in color selection
• Analyzing the contrast and harmony used in a published pattern
• Safe ways to swap out colors in a published pattern
• More daring ways to successfully swap out colors in a published pattern
• How to use a spreadsheet and photo editing software to aid you in color selection

I’m only starting to formulate the posts for these so if you have some specific questions about color or color and knitting, leave a comment! In the meantime, perhaps you would like to fill out a meme on color – either at your own blog and link back to this post or in the comments… Just cut and paste and answer and spread the word!

1. What is your current favorite color?
2. Had your favorite color changed over the years?
3. Is your current favorite color one that is currently trendy? (Do you see it in the fashion rags or on the clothes rack or in the linen aisle right now? How about 5 years ago?)
4. What is your favorite color combination?
5. Is that combination a popular one? (Is it use in prints you see in the stores and catalogs and magazines now? How about 5 years ago?)
6. What is your favorite way of using color in your knitting? (Are you a stranded knitter? Do you prefer simple stripes? Do you prefer just accents at the hems/collars?)
7. What colors look good on you?
8. What colors look bad on you?
9. Do you wear colors that don’t look good on you just because you like them?
10. What is your favorite neutral color? black/white/ivory/tan/brown/gray – if brown or gray do you prefer cool or warm versions of those or does it matter? And, how dark?
11. Is there a sweater pattern that uses more than one color that you’d like to make, but you wish to change the colors from what is published? If yes, which one? What do you not like about the published colors?

The answers to these questions should prove useful to you as I work my way through this color series.

Those who are perfectly happy choosing patterns based upon the colors published, don’t worry. These posts will take a lot more work behind the scenes than I usually take for my blog posts (and I have a lot more work to do these days as well) so there are certain to be non-color and even non-design posts too! Quite likely cooking, gardening, and reading posts will still pop up now again too.

Additional Posts in the Color Series

• Intro Stuff - My Color Meme Answers
• Part I: Hue and the Color Wheel
• Part II: Color Descriptors I