What a Life!

In my knitting life, I have knit sweaters (and pants and hats and mittens) for my boys and they have worn them. I have knit a sweater for my husband and he has worn it. I have knit socks for myself and I have worn them. I also knit legwarmers for myself and have enjoyed them. But the sweaters I have knit for myself either I have frogged or I have not worn them or I have not finished them or I have not even made them. Why is this?

Well, the first sweater I made myself had nice shaping, but the yarn when knit up was a little stiff and I looked like a football player with pads on. Seriously. I had subbed yarn and the sub I chose was not a good choice. It was frogged – almost immediately.

The next sweater I made for myself was the Bulky Brioche Raglan from Interweave Knits. I finished it last summer and wore it once in public, two days before Joey was born (and yes, it fit just fine – it’s supposed to be oversized and there was plenty of room for my belly). It would have worked after Joey was born except that the yarn is bulky and the sweater is long and it is not physically possible to pull the sweater up high enough to nurse my baby. So it has languished in the closet in one of those large ziplock bags.

Another sweater I have made myself is the I-cord jacket which I still haven’t sewn a zipper into. I try it on, and it looks nice like the purchased sweaters I used to wear so I did well in designing something like I already had in my closet. But then again, it hangs off the shoulders a little (too wide). And it has no shaping.

Yes, no shaping. That seems to be the norm with sweaters. Or if there is shaping – wider hips, smaller waist, wider bustline – it is so minimal you can’t even tell when I put them on.

You see, I have an hourglass figure. When they measured me for my sister’s wedding, my measurements were a perfect 4-3-4 ratio. So no, I’m not a 32-28-32 kind of gal where square really isn’t that big of a deal. No, insert whatever numbers you want in those ratios and you’ll know why square doesn’t work on me. I have an hourglass figure, and I get so tired of sweaters that fit at the bust and waist but are bulky and oversized in-between.

That’s how all store-bought sweaters are, it seems, and it’s how most sweater patterns are. When I buy business suits, I only try on tailored jackets – as in, not the ones that go straight down from the armhole to the hemline. I also hate baggy blouses that go underneath – I always end up buying something rather clingy so I don’t have all that bulk between the bustline and the waistline. Suits with sheath dresses underneath are my favorite because I don’t have to find a blouse to go with them, but they are not very accommodating when one is nursing a baby.

When I buy button-down shirts, I look for the ones with shaping. They just look so much nicer on me than the straight-cut ones. And when I find tees that have shaping, I absolutely love them. I hate wearing tees that don’t have shaping, but the ones with a curve designed into them are hard to come by, so I do have many straight ones in my closet.

I’ve been telling myself – oh, for the past year or so – that I need to knit some sweaters for myself. But either I get distracted making things for my boys – which fit right and are worn regularly. Or I get hung up on deciding what size to make and what alterations to make.

Take the Nantucket Jacket – I agonized for over a year on how to alter that before I finally cast on. It’s shaping was 36-34-42 (bust to hips) which I think is rather odd. I finally knit it up, but I was paranoid about whether or not I had made the right alterations. Finally this week, I pinned the darn thing together and tried it on. I didn’t want to block it because then it would be more difficult to re-knit if it was wrong, and using the pins terrified me as well because I might damage the yarn and not be able to re-knit it. But when I tried it on, it fits perfectly…and flatters my hourglass figure as well. Now I really need to seam it together so I can wear it.

I finally broke down and bought Stephanie Japel’s Fitted Knits in my quest to figure out how to knit things so they flatter my figure. She designs everything from the top down raglan style, and I prefer tailored garments with fitted sleeves. But I have gleaned a lot from that book. And I’ve ordered yarn to make some sweaters for myself.

When I was in high school, I took every sewing class my home ec teacher taught. That included Advanced Sewing as well as Pattern Design. For Pattern Design, we had to spend all this time making all these alterations to doll patterns – just practicing with the patterns. [Oh, how I wish I’d kept my notes from that class, but I have no idea what has become of them. I remember it well, though.] Then we had to take that basic pattern someone makes and design and make a garment for ourselves.

I’m thinking what I need to do is design a basic (aka boring) sweater or cardigan for myself with some of this yarn I ordered and figure out exactly what fit I like best. The shoulder width (I think I might have narrow shoulders). How to adjust for the bust – do I need darts? short rows? both? How quickly do I need to do the shaping for the bust to the waist to the hips? I need something plain and basic in my closet that I can go back to and measure in order to alter or design other pieces for myself.

I mean, they’re always telling you, “If you want to know how to make a sweater fit you well, go measure one of the sweaters in your closet that you like and make it like that.” Well, sorry, but none of them really look that great on me – they may be nice sweaters, but they don’t do anything especially nice for my figure. [I’m getting to where I hate that advice whenever I hear it – it ain’t reality. No one makes sweaters that are tailored – they’ll all just these boxy things. And I refuse to try and copy one of those again. Sorry, rant over.]

So the new quest in my knitting life is to knit a sweater for myself that fits and flatters my figure. I’m thinking I may yet purchase Barbara Walker’s Knitting from the Top. I’ve heard it talks about tailored sweaters with fitted sleeves, not just raglans. I need to go look at it again and see. Rumor also has it that she tells you everything you need to know about getting a good fit. I’ve checked out from the library Deborah Newton and Maggie Righetti’s books, but in the past I have not been impressed. Perhaps I need to take a second look.

My new yarn is said to arrive Tuesday, which is also Joey’s first birthday. I’m telling myself I need to finish up the little projects I have planned and on the needles for him before then so he can have them as birthday presents. And so I can start playing with my new yarn when it arrives.

[Excuse me, I must go. I have some knitting I need to do. ]