Knitting for Engineers I
One reason I like knitting is because of the mathematical simplicity there is to it. The difficulty lies in decomposing a garment into constitutive pieces that once sewn together will fit a human figure, a dog, a lampshade or whatever it is that you are trying to dress.
There are several elements to get you to where you can create your own pieces.
1) Look at existing patterns.
The nice thing about them is that professionals, who have the experience you lack have done the decomposing and recomposing necessary in turning out an outfit. Find a pattern you like and study the schematics that come with it.
2) Find a piece you own that fits particularly well and measure it.
The measurements you obtain that way can be used to replace the measurements of the pattern you are looking at. A pattern rarely fits all your needs. Knitting your own outfits means that you can afford the luxury of custom tailoring at very little cost. Maybe you want the sleeves to be more fitted. Or you need narrower shoulders, or longer sleeves, or you just think that a particular cardigan would look great if only it fell just below the waist. By the same token, you can combine measurements from multiple outfits. One may have just the sleeves you like, while another fits very nicely around the waist.
3) Pick your yarn and needle, and swatch, swatch, swatch.
The swatch (knitting a 10cm/10cm square in the pattern stitch) is how you transfer the sketch on paper to the actual garment. It sets the scale. You can get that wrong. An error of one stitch over your 10cm/10cm square easily translates to a sweater that won't fit over your head or unflattering flaps around the hips. Ideally, you should really make a larger swatch, and then run it through a load of laundry, the same way you will treat the final outfit. Even if you swatch carefully, be ready to bite the bullet and undo two week's worth of progress on a project. It's better to redo a sweater that is not turning out right than continuing with it and live with a disappointing result.
There are several elements to get you to where you can create your own pieces.
1) Look at existing patterns.
The nice thing about them is that professionals, who have the experience you lack have done the decomposing and recomposing necessary in turning out an outfit. Find a pattern you like and study the schematics that come with it.
2) Find a piece you own that fits particularly well and measure it.
The measurements you obtain that way can be used to replace the measurements of the pattern you are looking at. A pattern rarely fits all your needs. Knitting your own outfits means that you can afford the luxury of custom tailoring at very little cost. Maybe you want the sleeves to be more fitted. Or you need narrower shoulders, or longer sleeves, or you just think that a particular cardigan would look great if only it fell just below the waist. By the same token, you can combine measurements from multiple outfits. One may have just the sleeves you like, while another fits very nicely around the waist.
3) Pick your yarn and needle, and swatch, swatch, swatch.
The swatch (knitting a 10cm/10cm square in the pattern stitch) is how you transfer the sketch on paper to the actual garment. It sets the scale. You can get that wrong. An error of one stitch over your 10cm/10cm square easily translates to a sweater that won't fit over your head or unflattering flaps around the hips. Ideally, you should really make a larger swatch, and then run it through a load of laundry, the same way you will treat the final outfit. Even if you swatch carefully, be ready to bite the bullet and undo two week's worth of progress on a project. It's better to redo a sweater that is not turning out right than continuing with it and live with a disappointing result.
Comments
Post a Comment