Part 2: Freeing Yourself from a Pattern – Step 2: Analyze the Pattern and Modify It to Fit.

April 2, 2010| Lindy| 0 Comment | 11:59 am

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In my last post, I went through all the necessary measurements you need to take in order to ensure that you can modify or create any sweater pattern you wish.
If you haven’t done so, you may want to go back and read this information and take your measurements.

Today I will discuss how to analyze a written pattern so that you can use it as a guideline to knit your own well-fitting garment. First, get your favorite sweater – you will be using it to help you analyze the pattern you have selected.

Now, let’s take a look at this sweater – you need to understand what it is about this sweater that makes it your favorite. Is it a pullover or a cardigan? Is it close-fitting or loose? How long is it? What type of sleeve does it have (Set-in, drop, raglan or other)? What type of neckline ( Round, V-neck, Boat Neck, Square, or other)? Now compare this information to the sweater pattern you want to knit. Just a word of caution, here, if the pattern you have chosen differs dramatically from your favorite sweater – you may not be happy with the end result. Then, again, if it is a conscious choice, you may.

Now let’s look at the sizing given in the pattern. Sizes are often stated as “Small, Medium, Large, Extra-Large”, etc. Some patterns will give sizing using finished chest/bust circumference, while others will state the sizing in terms of actual body measurements. If the pattern sizing is in terms of finished measurements, it will have the ease incorporated into it. If in actual body measurements, you may have to determine how much ease is factored into the garment. The amount of ease is both a matter of personal preference and a property of the design of the sweater. To determine how much ease you prefer – pull out your favorite sweater, measure the chest and compare the measurement to your actual body measurement. The math is simple: Subtract your body measurement from the garment measurement – this will give you the amount of inches of ease.

Now – take a look at that pattern you are considering– is there a size that matches your actual chest measurement PLUS that amount of ease? If the answer is “Yes” – then, if your gauge with your yarn matches the pattern, you are good to go.

If you find that your size is not represented within the pattern, you will need to adjust the body width.

For a body width less than the smallest size given in the pattern, recalculate the number of stitches to cast on and then follow the directions for the smallest size.

For a body width greater than the largest size given in the pattern, recalculate the number of stitches to cast on and follow the directions for the largest size.

For a body width that is in between sizes, recalculate the number of stitches to cast on and then follow the directions for the closest size.

In all cases, the formula is: SPI (your gauge) X body width

There are some additional elements to consider and modify if you are adjusting body width:

If the sleeve is a drop sleeve design, be careful not to add too much body width or the shoulders will be too wide. If you need more width in the hip area than the shoulders – use an A-Line shape for the body – which means that you will need to factor in some decreases from the hip to the underarm.

If the sleeve is a set-in sleeve design, remember that as you change body width, you must also adjust the shoulder width because the top of the sleeve should hit the end of the shoulder.

The sleeve length must be adjusted when adding or subtracting body width. This is because if you add width or subtract width to the body, you have also done so to the shoulder width – and shoulder width contributes to the total sleeve length. Verify the length you need for your sweater and make adjustments accordingly.

Additional considerations in modifying a written pattern:

Does this pattern incorporate a textured or colored stitch pattern? If so, what is the base stitch pattern? To determine this, look at the instructions and the graph for the stitch patterning. Most stitch patterns are a multiple of a base number of stitches – i.e. 8 stitches over 24 rows. So, if you are reducing or increasing the number of stitches to cast on – you will need to adjust this number so that it divisible by your base stitch pattern. For example: You have determined that you need to cast on 214 stitches and your base stitch pattern is an 8 stitch repeat. If you divide 214 by 8, you get 26.75 – which is not a even number. You will need to increase the number of stitches you cast on to 216 – which is evenly divisible by 8.

Today, I have discussed how to use a written pattern as a guideline and modify it so that it will fit properly. This works best if your gauge matches the pattern, but your measurements do not.

Next post, I will discuss the notion of designing your own sweater from your choice of yarn, a basic design and the stitch pattern of your choice.

How to knit a Basic Beanie without a pattern – Part 1: Brim and BodyHow to knit a Basic Beanie without a pattern – Part 1: Brim and Body

April 29, 2024| LindyBeir| 0 Comment| 11:33 am

I have read several Facebook posts and Ravelry forums where new knitters are asking about how to knit a basic hat. There are many basic beanie style hat patterns available for free on Ravelry, including one of mine: Basic Beanie Hat.

But the truth is that a basic beanie hat is fairly easy to knit without any pattern if you are familiar with its structure and know your gauge for the yarn you want to use for the hat. So this post is about the basic structure of a beanie, knit in the round.

Now, a beanie can be knit top down or bottom up, but if you look at most patterns, they are written with a bottom-up construction and this will be the approach I will follow here. There are three parts to a basic beanie: The brim, the body, and the crown. The brim of a beanie is usually done in either 1×1 ribbing (k1,p1) or 2×2 ribbing (k2,p2). The length of the brim can be relatively short – and intended to not be folded, or it can be longer so that it will be worn with the brim folded.

The body of a beanie is the part of the hat that covers the head from just above the ears to where the crown is formed. The length of the body varies according to the size of the hat, with children’s hats being shorter than an adults’ and Men’s hats are usually longer than Women’s. For a basic beanie this length is approximately the length from the top of the head to the bottom of the earlobe or half the length of measuring from the bottom of one earlobe to the other up over the top of the head.

The crown of a beanie is the area that covers the top of the head and is shaped by making decreases to form a circle that is closed at the very top.

To begin knitting the basic beanie you need to do a little math. You need to know what circumference you want it to be. If you have the measurement of the circumference of the head of person you want to fit, you can use that. If you don’t know the circumference, then you can use a standard size chart for the measurements. See the chart below. For a women’s head, I usually use a circumference of 21 – 22 inches as a starting point.

Knitted beanies are made with negative ease. Now what do I mean by that? Negative ease means that the knitted hat will be smaller than the actual circumference and I usually factor in about 10% negative ease for my beanies. This gives the hat a good fit and it hugs the wearer’s head and stays in place. Using an example of a 21 inch circumference, the knitted circumference with 10% negative ease is 19 inches. (10% of 21 = 2.1; 21-2 = 19 or if you prefer: 21 x 0.9 = 19)

You are now ready to determine how many stitches to cast on to start the brim of the beanie. For this you will need your stitch gauge in stitches per inch (spi). I usually have a gauge of 5 spi with worsted weight yarn, so in this example, I multiply 19 inches by 5 sts which gives me 95 sts. However, if I am doing 1×1 ribbing, I need an even number of stitches, so I can either round down to 94 or round up to 96 sts. If I do 2×2 ribbing, I need an even number of stitches, but the number also has to be divisible by 4. In this example, 96 is divisible by 4, so I would start with 96.

For a Women’s beanie, I usually like to knit the ribbing to a length of approximately 2 inches and then start the body. For a basic beanie, I knit the body in stockinette stitch. The body area is where you can add various textured stitch patterns or knit stripes using different colors of yarn. But the very basic beanie is knit in stockinette stitch.

The length of the hat is determined by measuring the length of the wearer’s head from the lower earlobe to the top of the crown. Another way is to measure the head from the bottom of one earlobe over the top of the head to the bottom of the other earlobe and then divide that number by 2. For a women’s hat, I usually use a length of 10.5 to 11 inches, for a men’s hat I use 11 to 11.5 inches. See the standard size chart above for further information. The crown of the hat is approximately 1/3 of the total length of the hat. So, once the ribbing is done, you knit the body to the desired length where the crown shaping starts (measured from the cast on edge). In my example of a women’s hat with a total length of 11 inches, I would knit to a length of 7.5inches. The remaining length of the hat is where the crown is shaped using decreases.

My next post covers things you need to consider to knit the crown of the beanie.

Acquiring Needles over TimeAcquiring Needles over Time

September 9, 2021| LindyBeir| 0 Comment| 9:58 am

When I started knitting decades ago, the choices and types of knitting needles were limited. I started out using the Boye brand of aluminum straight single point needles in US size 10.5 – I think they were about 8 inches long. My next set of needles were US size 8 and were 14 inches in length. I continued acquiring single point aluminum needles – buying them one set at a time as I needed for the project I was working on. I still have most of those sets and I don’t use them much anymore.

I also acquired double point needles(dpns) as I learned to knit in the round or circular. These were purchased generally from big box type stores that carried knitting supplies. I have a mix of aluminum. bamboo, and birch needles. Again, I still have these needles but I rarely use them.

My first sets of circular needles were also purchased at big box stores and are aluminum or bamboo with thicker cables. I eventually found a local yarn shop in my area and this opened up a whole new avenue for buying knitting needles. The needles carried by the shop were of a much higher quality than what was available through the big box stores. My first purchases of fixed circular needles were Addi brand. Over time, I acquired a collection of these needles in various lengths. Again, I bought the size and length of needles as I needed them for projects.

I purchased my first set of interchangeable knitting needles about 25 years after I started knitting. I still use this set regularly but I also have acquired additional interchangeable needles and cables over time.

What I describe above is a process that I believe most knitters go through as they progress in the craft of knitting. You start out with what you are introduced to as a beginner and go from there. Today’s knitter has a much wider array of choices in knitting needles.

There are many different brands available as well as many different materials, not only aluminum and bamboo, but different types of woods, stainless steel, nickel, and acrylic. There are also many different options for where to buy knitting needles today. Knitters now have the option of buying knitting supplies online in addition to stores/shops in their area. It is wonderful to have so many different choices – but it can also be challenging for the new knitter. In my next post, I will discuss tips for selecting needles that I hope will help you the next time you wish to buy a set of needles.

FO: Fancy Feet Anklets – “Monday”FO: Fancy Feet Anklets – “Monday”

September 5, 2011| LindyBeir| 0 Comment| 4:19 pm

It’s been a busy summer and I haven’t done much posting of late. Now that summer is winding down along with the Labor Day weekend, I intend to post a bit more often. So I will start with my latest FO. Awhile back, I purchased the “Fancy Feet Anklets” kit from Knit Picks. This kit contained 7 balls of Comfy Fingering weight yarn in 7 different colors and a set of 7 patterns, one for each day of the week. The idea being that you have a pair of anklets for each day of the week. Now, I have to confess that this kit has been hanging around it my stash long enough that it is no longer available on the Knit Picks website. (I just checked.)

I started knitting one of the patterns in the kit (Monday) earlier this summer when I was looking for a small, portable knitting project to take with me here and there as we traveled throughout the summer. This was a perfect portable project. The Monday pattern is a feather and fan type lace pattern. I used the colorway Blackberry and size US 0 (2.00 mm) circular needles, 47 inches long so that I could do magic loop and two-at-a-time. Now, because this is a lace pattern, it does require keeping track as you knit. The anklet is knit toe-up — which is not my preferred method for doing socks — but I think it is the most practical way to knit this type of short ankle sock.

A couple of comments/notes to myself for the next pair: The socks seem a bit too tight across the middle of my foot, so I think I will knit the next pair on slightly larger needles. The socks are also a wee bit short for my size 8.5 foot, so the next time I will knit them about 1/2 longer before starting the heel. The heel on these anklets is made by doing 60 short rows (yep, 60). You really have to keep track of where you are in the pattern when knitting the heel. I found it best to do the heel in one long stretch of knitting rather than attempting to stop somewhere in the process. I also have decided I really don’t like the wrap and turn technique used for the short rows, so the next pair will be knit using a different technique.

I like the socks, but since they don’t really fit me, my sister (who has smaller feet) will be getting this pair.