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I get many people writing and asking me for patterns. I will tell you right now that I have no patterns for any of the garments I have knitted. I have never hand knitted and I can not read a pattern! I buy all the magazines for hand knitting and machine knitting, but I don't read the patterns. As far as I'm concerned, all those short abbreviations for words makes it look like another language and I think it's harder to learn a new language than to figure out your own pattern! So, I make up my own designs and garment sizing by figuring out on graph paper where my colors go and using simple math to figure out the number of stitches and rows needed. This is not hard! Anyone can do this. You can go to see my sweaters. I will show you how to figure out your own pattern. If you have DAK, then you are all set...no more need for patterns because DAK does it all! I do use DAK and I love it! But if you don't have that computer program, it's still easy enough. The most important thing to do is to make your swatch! Never start a project without your swatch information because every yarn (even the same yarn with a different dye) can give you a different tension. With a bulky machine, knit your swatch as follows;
If you have a standard bed machine, knit your swatch as above but after the contrasting rows knit 30 rows, mark your 21st needles on either side of 0, knit another 30 rows to your contrasting rows and finish off the same as above. Now, take your swatch to the sink and wash it with the same soap and same temperature of water that you plan to use for your finished garment. Then spin the water out in the washing machine and dry the swatch in the dryer! Now, we can take measurements. Use a ruler to write down the measurement between the two rows of contrasting color. Next, write down the measurement between the single marked stitches. Lets say the measurement between the contrasting rows, or 30/60 (bulky/standard) rows = 13 cm/5 in. The measurement between the 20/40 stitches = 10 cm/4 in. The chart below shows approximate measurements for standard women's sizes shown on the top row. It is best that you take your own measurements and write them down. (sh. - sh. is shoulder to shoulder) The chart is only reflecting the sizes in inches.
So, at this point you should have measured and written down your own measurements for the categories above. Your own arm measurement may be longer or shorter than the standard, as well as waist, etc. Use the standard measurements only as a guide. Now, you want to figure out how many stitches you need to cast on and how many rows you will need to knit. There is nothing simpler to start with than a drop-shoulder shape. There is no arm hole shaping and no need to shape a neck-line either as you can do the cut and sew technique I have shown on another page. So, let's say that you are close to a standard 36 size. That means your bust is 36 inches and your hips are 38 inches. (You take the largest of your measurements from your bust, waist or your hip.) Let's say that you want your sweater to be 24 inches long from your nape (back of neck at shoulder line) to the bottom of the garment. So, to determine how many rows to knit, you look at your swatch and see that 30 rows measured 5 inches. (this is figured with bulky knitting - if you are using standard knitting do the same but calculate it between 60 rows and 40 stitches). Your garment is to be 24 inches.... 24 divided by 5 = 4.8. 5 inches was made up of 30 rows, so 30 X 4.8 = 144 rows. To determine how many stitches to cast on, you see on your swatch that 20 stitches = 4 inches. Your garment is being made for 38 inch hips. You should allow at least 3.5 inches as an ease for comfort. So that means you want your garment to be 41.5 inches wide. Now, you will be knitting a front and a back section, so you need to divide your calculation by 2 so that you will know how many stitches you need to cast on for the front or the back. 41.5 divided by 2 = 20.75 20.75 divided by 4 = 5.2 4 inches was made up of 20 stitches.... 5.2 X 20 = 104 stitches to cast on. If you find that your needle bed has only 100 needles and you find you need to cast on for 104 stitches, you need to make some adjustments. In this case, you need to knit another swatch with a looser tension to use less needles and then re-figure how many rows and stitches you will need. OR, you can just leave out a stitch or two if you are close...it only means that the sweater will fit tighter and not have as much as the 3.5 inches of ease. Make these same calculations for your sleeves. Since you are doing a drop shoulder, the measurement of your shoulder to shoulder is 14 inches. The front and back measurement of the sweater you just knitted was for 41.5 inches wide. Half of that is 20.75. 20.75 - 14 = 6.75 inches of material that drapes down your shoulder towards your sleeve. So take half for the right side and the other half for the left side and you have 3.4 inches of sleeve already knitted in the front and back sections. So, you want your sleeve to be 23 inches in total. 23 - 3.4 = 19.6 inches that you want for the length of sleeve that will attach to your front and back sections. With your swatch measurements, you make the same calculations as you did for the front and back sections. 19.6 divided by 5 = 3.9 3.9 X 30 = 117 rows to knit The width of your wrist is 6 inches with an ease of 3 inches and the upper arm is 11 inches with an ease of 8 inches for comfort. So now you can calculate how many stitches to cast on for the bottom of your sleeve. 9 divided by 4 = 2.25 2.25 X 20 = 45 stitches You need to calculate how many stitches you will end up with for the upper arm. 19 divided by 4 = 4.75 4.75 X 20 = 95 stitches The difference in stitches is 95 - 45 = 50. 50 stitches need to be added evenly to give a smooth gradation from the cuff to the top of the sleeve. You will have 117 rows in which to add 50 stitches, so divide this to see how many times you need to increase. 117 divided by 50 = 2.3 so every 2.3 rows you add a stitch, but since you want to add a stitch evenly to both sides of the sleeve, you will add two stitches every 4.6 rows. Since it's not an even number, you can even it out by adding two stitches every 4 rows 25 times, and that will take you to 100 rows. Knit the last 17 straight up.
May 02, 2001
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