Measure Twice - Knit Once

Taken from Knitting Daily Blog, October 10, 2011

Measuring yourself is never super fun (unless you've recently lost weight!), but knowing your measurements is essential to knitting sweaters that fit.

My knitting group got together a couple of years ago and had a measuring party—we buddied up and took each others' measurements and wrote them all down. We need to do that again since it's been awhile. Here's hoping my measurements have stayed the same or even gotten a tiny bit smaller!

After seeing episode 703 of Knitting Daily TV, I'm armed with lots of great information and tips to make the measurements more exact. Designers and authors Laura Bryant
and Barry Klein join host Shay Pendray to share their tricks for taking accurate measurements, along with lots of info about that mysterious element: ease.

Laura measures and tries on several sweaters and demonstrates how positive ease (a garment that measures a little larger than a person's measurements) and negative ease (a garment that measures a little smaller than a person's measurements) affect how the garment looks.

It might be counter-intuitive, but the garment with negative ease is much more flattering. I love this visual evidence—so many of us make our sweaters too big! Once when my knitting group was trying on sweaters for one of the the Interweave Knits galleries, almost everyone thought a certain sweater wasn't going to fit them. When it did I could see the light bulbs go on—"I think I've been making my sweaters too big" was the quote of the evening.

Laura and Barry have made a handy chart available for download, too. It's from their book The New Knitter's Template, and it provides blank spaces for every measurement you'll ever need. Here's the clip from episode 703:


Kathleen Cubley is the editor of Knitting Daily.

Caps For Good

Twenty-four infant caps were mailed off in February to be distributed to third world countries. Thanks to all who contributed their time and talent.

The Queen - a Celebrity Among Us!

Mayor Ernie Eldridge of Willimantic honors Steve & Faith Kenton at Windam Town Hall during a Cupid Crowning Ceremony. The 29-year tradition, which recognizes residents who have contributed to the community during the year, was conferred upon the Kentons for their year-round volunteer work for programs like the Willimantic Wildlife Initiative and the Victorian House Tour.

Congratulations Faith & Steve

Photo Caption taken from the Courant - February 14, 2011 page B6 (Unfortunately I could not find the photo online.)