Knitting - Knit A Sweater That Fits
Experience the frustration of a sweater that either isn’t quite right or doesn’t quite fit no longer! This morning workshop will explore a number of simple steps that will ensure you achieve great fitting garments.
Teacher: Georgie Nicolson
Workshop Duration: Half Day
Description: Many knitters think that getting a sweater to fit is about taking the right body measurements and going from there but this is really just a secondary consideration. In fact, you don’t even need to take a body measurement at all! Good fit is about good preparation and this class explores a number of essentials for sweater success from yarn choice and yarn substitution, to swatching correctly and effectively, to understanding how you like your sweaters to fit. We will talk about how to use this knowledge to choose appropriate patterns and sizes that we will actually wear rather than being suckered in by the viral pattern of the moment. We will also explore how to make minor adjustments to fine-tune our fitting and the all important implications of ease and how it affects our sizing choices.
Materials to bring: Please bring to class a sweater, jumper or cardigan or two that you like the fit of. They can be store-bought or handmade. Bring along a pattern and yarn combination (or some options) that you would like to knit and a tape measure (this won’t be a class about taking body measurements!)
Takeaway: An understanding of the steps involved in getting in a sweater to fit properly. The confidence to choose patterns that will suit you and create garments that you will love for many years to come.
Level: Advanced Beginner - Intermediate
Prerequisites: Basic knitting skills; ability to cast on, knit and purl, work simple increases and decreases and a basic understanding of garment construction.
Homework: Have a flick through your Ravelry library or your pattern books and select a number of patterns that you interest you. Bring these to class.
So I wrote last week a post asking “Is my making fast fashion?”. And then I did a video on Instagram discussing similar topics in a slightly different way. And as always, you lovely humans have helped me clarify some of my thinking with your thoughtful, clever commentary.
And while I think there is so much more to discuss, here are four key possibly-more-meta ideas that have come up for me out of those conversations.
In using the quote last week that suggested that there was no single answer, and suggesting that this was freeing, I really did mean that we should sit in the grey. Not that the lack of “an” answer to this question should mean we get to ignore the question but rather that the lack of “an” answer means that we need to keep asking bigger more beautiful questions. And keep asking them.
Is my making fast fashion?
Am I living my values or merely thinking them?
And how can I make those two things a little more aligned in this moment?
These are my big beautiful questions.
Yours might be different.
And importantly this leads to point 2.