Help! Also, I am insane.
I am going to try to make a sweater. I know that it's a symptom of insanity to repeat the same action over and over again and expect a different result, but I've never made any claims to sanity before, so. Sweater Time.
I own a rather psychotic number of How to Knit/Design/Make Mo' Bettah books (again with the references to how crazy I am) and they all say that it's a good idea to measure sweaters that you already own so you can gauge what kind of ease you would like. After a more failed sweaters than I care to admit, a light bulb went off in my head and I thought to myself, "Hey! It would be a great idea to measure up some of my sweaters!" Brilliant, aren't I?
The books all say that 2" of ease will give you a form fitting sweater. That's cool. I'm a pleasingly plump hourglass figure and form fitting works well on me (BoYz LiEk TitZ). I'm also 38" around "that area" so doing the math I come to the sum of 40" and I am a genius! No. Not so much. Back to that second paragraph where I did the measuring.
All of my sweaters measure 34". How can this be? I've heard of "negative ease" and it makes sense to me, but all. of. them?
Guys. Does this mean I'm tarty? Mutton dressed as lamb? 10 pounds of flour in a five pound bag?
So do I make a sweater with negative ease? What if said sweater is made using Jaeger Trinity, comprised of 40% silk, 35% cotton, 25% polyamide fibre and looks good knit on size 3 needles at a gauge of 25 sts and 37 rows with plenty of that crazy stretch that only cotton and silk can give you? You know the kind, by the end of the day your sweater looks more like a peanut sack.
What if said sweater was going to be more on the self-designed side? With a square neckline, shawl collar, picked up sleeves with short row sleevecaps and lots of short rows in the boob area? And is knit by a person on lots of pain medication who disregards the "do not consume alcoholic beverages" sticker?
Should I include some clever buckles in the back so the nice men in white uniforms can easily restrain me for my ride in the padded van?
Yarn Abuse
7 Comments
Reader Comments (7)
What I'd do is look at patterns using that yarn to get an idea of how it will drape/stretch.
I'd also calculate out my gauge and stick to the two inches of ease. I've never heard this notion of measuring a sweater you already own. To me, that sounds like too many cooks spoiling the pot if that makes any sense.
Anyways if you need any assistance or just want to vent feel free to email me.
And you are not dressed trampily.
I wish I could help but not only am I afraid of sweater design, I have tiny boobs. We have nothing in common.
:-)
going by the fiber content of trinity it looks like it's going to stretch.
but then 34...38... what's going on there?
i'm not being much of a help.