Finished Object Friday - Second Custom Fit Sweater

Happy Friday!  Here is my second finished CustomFit sweater.    I am really happy with it.  It is a modification of Dansez by Amy Herzog.  Much thinner yarn and using the CustomFit software to customize to my measurements.  It fits very well, especially under the arms which is always a tricky part for me.  It does have more fitted sleeves than I would normally do - I have pretty thin arms so no commercial pattern would be as close fitting as these or even the right amount of ease that I would like. I could have modified that in the software but didn't catch it in time.  The yarn is soft so it is fine.  

CustomFit software is getting closer to being ready for release.  Amy and team have been working like banshees on it.  I want to do a cardigan but haven't started swatting or thinking about it yet.  I have three very boring projects going on and I'm trying to stay focused to finish one of them.  At least one.  Actually I have more than three projects on the needles because I have a pair of socks that I always forget about and I have the Bee Keeper's Quilt that I go in stops and starts on.  I really do need to finish one thing, don't I?

Head over to Tami's and Wisdom Begins in Wonder to see all the great projects.

Work in progress Wednesday

Happy Wednesday!  Things are getting back to normal here.  We're able to sleep through the night without having to get up for medicine or changing dressings.  Sleep makes a huge difference.  My husband continues to improve, so all is good at home.

I've been working on my second Custom Fit Sweater.  For this one, I started with the Dansez pattern from Amy Herzog's book.  It has a lace pattern around the bottom edge, a scoop neck and elbow length sleeves.  I am using a DK weight, much lighter than what the pattern used.  So I used the software to recalculate based on my yarn and my measurements.  I'm up to the armholes of the back.  Doesn't look like much until you block the lace.

Her sweaters have a lot of shaping.  I have started marking decreases and increases with tiny rubber bands (my son's braces are off and we have tons of these around the house, you do have to cut them off later but they are easy to find and basically free until I run out of his stash).  You can see that there are vertical darts.

This one gives a close up on it.  You can see that there are actually three vertical darts for decreases - starting first with the one that is closest to the middle of the back, then going to the next out and just two decreases closer to the edge.  I had never seen this before (well my last sweater had two darts for decreases - but three?!?).  Amy's explanation for this is that when you have a big difference between hips and waist and have to do a lot of decreases in a short amount of space, it is best to do two or three vertical darts.  This way it will fit better, not pucker or gap in weird ways.  Since I have almost four inches of lace border, all the decreases before the waist have to be crammed in to a small space, therefore more vertical darts.  The top marker is actually where the increases start so you can see that it is just a small vertical area for the waist.  I'll keep you posted on how this works out and how it fits finally.

Last night was Night Knitting for our guild.  We didn't have a great turn out - time of year, people getting ready for school to start, etc… but we had a few.  I was helping someone with a pattern which was really poorly written.  They didn't want to use more than two pages so they skimped on the instructions.  It makes you really appreciate when designers put the time into writing clear instructions.  Especially when you are doing something for the first time like three sets of darts.

Head over to Tami's to see all the great projects.

Custom Fit Sweater - FInished Object Friday!

Happy Friday!
I'm feeling much better, not necessarily getting more sleep, just adjusting to it.  My husband continues to improve but we have 4 - 6 months of recovery/physical therapy to go through.  I promise to not complain for that long.  I'm also very happy to have had so many finished objects in a row!  Feeling very productive.  But this will probably be the last for a week or two.

This is a sweater that came from Amy Herzog's Custom Fit software.  I'm in the second group of beta testers.  You input your swatch details - row and stitch gauges and your measurements.  Then you choose what type of style and some other factors - this is a crew neck pullover with short sleeves and 0" of ease.  You select the hem lengths and depth of the neck opening.  You get a pattern for a bottoms up, set in sleeve that has the waist and bust shaping to fit you perfectly.

I'm very happy with it!  This is a cotton blend that I will get to wear a lot.  I'm planning my second sweater with the beta software now.  The software hopefully will be released this fall.  You don't pay for the software just for the patterns that you create and want to use.

This picture helps you see the vertical darts that are used for the shaping.  The patterns are very well written and give you detailed instructions for the shaping.  There is also a guide for taking your measurements so that you know where and how to measure.  I will keep you posted on how the software is coming and when it will be released.

Have a great weekend, make time for yarn and check out the other great projects at Tami's and Wisdom Begins in Wonder.

Work in Progress Wednesday - Started the CustomFit Sweater

Happy Wednesday.  I'm back to lots of projects.  The newest one is my CustomFit Beta Sweater.  I mentioned last week that I am a beta tester for Amy Herzog's soon to be released CustomFit software.  Using the software, you put in your measurements and gauge information from a swatch.  You can make style choices around neckline, pullover or cardigan, length, sleeve type and length.  After you input that, it generates a pattern sized for your body.

I started on Monday.  I had the swatch done on Sunday and thought I had measurements done then as well but had to redo one.  Measuring yourself is not always the easiest, and as wonderful as my husband is, he wasn't always measuring right.  So I am almost to the back armholes.

Amy is big on vertical darts - see her blog for why.  I like waist shaping but until I read Amy's book I always did it on the sides.  One of the last sweaters I did, I used her method of vertical darts and it did fit really well.  In this case, the software is putting in two pairs of vertical darts on the back to get the amount of decreases I need without puckering.

I also cast on socks just to have a pair on hand when easy portable projects are needed.  These are Dead Simple Lace Socks by Wendy Johnson.  Red is my favorite color, though it hasn't shown up in my knitting in the last six months to a year.

Tomorrow my husband is having shoulder surgery, so I'm going to have about five hours of waiting time.  Knitting will help keep my mind off of all of it.  Recovery is supposed to be long and painful so it will probably be a difficult couple of weeks.

To see lots of great projects, head to Tami's.

Finished Object Friday - Custom Fit

Happy Friday!  This is our last week at the beach and it has been great - great weather and lots of time to knit.  I should have finished objects for awhile.

Today, I have this grey sweater - which is astonishingly hard to photograph.  I made it to go with the skirt I knit this spring and it matches perfectly - even though the skirt is hand painted linen and this is a pima cotton.  I designed it with this great plan to have asymmetrical button bands with cute big buttons and crochet button loops.  I even have the really cute buttons.  The button loops were not successful.  I ended up with clasps that work really well.

This is typical of me.  I explain to you first the things that don't work on the sweater.  Now let me tell you why I'm happy with it.  It is made in pieces bottom up.  There is an inch seed stitch border at the bottom and the sleeves.  The cardigan border is seed stitch too and knitted in.  The square neck is also in seed stitch.

To get the sweater to fit - it is basically zero ease through the bust - I used vertical darts above and below the waist detailing.  This is the back shown here but it is similar on the fronts.  Color is much more true here as well.  I don't recall ever using vertical darts before - I like waist shaping but typically put it by the side seams.  It does work better in the body like this - as long as you can make it fit with the stitch pattern and you aren't bothered by the appearance of the vertical darts.  Here they worked out well.  So how did I learn to do this?

If you haven't seen Amy Herzog's book Knit to Flatter, I can't recommend it enough.  She does a great job talking about shaping but also a way to figure out your body type and adjust sweaters to FIT YOU!  I used the principles in her book to design the sweater to fit me and it does!

I had taken a class on altering patterns to fit about two years ago and it was a revelation.  I found out that my shape is not even close to what the fashion industry thinks it should be.  I have a relatively small bust but very wide shoulders and small arms.  So while I have always thought of myself as bottom heavy, pear shaped, my shoulders are basically balanced to my hip size.  I learned in that class that shoulder measurement is so critical on sweaters - it is the point where sweaters are supported.  Since then, my sweaters fit much better, but I adjust and customize everything.

But back to Amy and her mission to have everyone's sweaters fit them.  Her blog  is great and every Friday she does a mini lesson on fit with lots of pictures.  Can't recommend it enough.  She is working on a website/software program where you put in your gauge, sweater design choices (cardigan/pullover, neck shape, sleeve length, etc…) and measurements and it spits out a pattern customized to you that you can then purchase and download.  She is hoping to launch it this fall.  Several weeks ago she put out a call for beta testers and I was lucky enough to see it and be selected.  I'm in group two which starts next week so you be hearing more about it here as it goes on.  That has been part of my mad swatching this week.  And I'm trying to finish a project before starting my beta sweater.

So lots more knitting over the weekend.  Hope you have a great one too and have time to check out Tami's and Wisdom Begins in Wonder to see lots of great projects.