Patterns are guidelines, not gospel, and I didn’t pull that idea out of a hat. It comes from 60+ years of knitting experience, 10 of which I spent as the Tuesday Troubleshooter for my local yarn shop. I sorted out 1000s of knitting snarls . . . and guess how many of those involved patterns? Over half of them.
PATTERNS ARE NOT GOSPEL BECAUSE . . .
1) They are riddled with errors. This is nature of the beast. With hundreds of numbers and abbreviations, for which there can be no spell-check, mistakes happen with even the most compulsive of designers, copy editors and typists spending hours working them over with dutiful attention.
Back when I was at the yarn shop (mid-80s to mid-90s) the internet was an infant. Now, at least, you can check websites to see if any “errata” have been corrected for the pattern you’re using. Even then, there may be undocumented errors lurking just under your radar, like crocodiles, ready to snap your patience.
2) They give you bad advice. One of my pet peeves is step-bind-offs. “Bind off 5 sts at the beginning of the next 6 rows,” for example, with no more guidance. Short rows or sloped bind-offs are so much more elegant in this situation. And about grafting the shoulder seams of an adult, long-sleeve sweater? Bad idea.
3) Sometimes you want fewer (or more or bigger) buttons or a different neck edge treatment from that in the pattern. It’s your knitting. It’s OK to change things.
4) Your likelihood of “matching the pattern gauge” perfectly is 50% or less. [2017 note: After more research I conclude that this is closer to 30%. That is, 70% of the time you won’t be able to match the gauge exactly]. That is, AT LEAST HALF OF THE TIME YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO MATCH THE GAUGE CALLED FOR IN THE PATTERN no matter how many sets of needles, larger and smaller, that you try. Not because you’re a bad knitter, but because your hands are not the designer’s hands.
This figure I am sort of pulling out of my hat because I haven’t recorded 1000s of samples, but I see evidence to support this conclusion all the time.
**EXHIBIT A: A few years ago I taught a weekend retreat in which 25 experienced knitters made the same Size-2 sweater with the same yarn and needles, and 13 different gauges. They ended up with 25 sweaters the exact same size because we made them Sweater 101 style where we wrote the patterns to match their personal gauges, but the part I want you to remember is this: SAME YARN + SAME NEEDLES + 25 GOOD KNITTERS = 13 DIFFERENT GAUGES.
**EXHIBIT B: I just did a quick pattern search on Ravelry for worsted weight patterns (about halfway between DK and Aran weight for my UK friends). I randomly clicked on 20 mostly stockinette sweater patterns and recorded their required gauges. Some of the patterns listed multiple yarns you could use to make the sweater. Others called for one specific yarn. GUESS HOW MANY DIFFERENT RECOMMENDED STOCKINETTE GAUGES I FOUND. YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT. Seriously, guess first and then CLICK HERE to find the answer. (Some of the gauges were close and others were not even close. This cries out for further exploration but not today).
**BOTTOM LINE: You might never match the designer’s gauge no matter what you do. And this can be crazy-making unless you learn to adapt patterns to your gauge. It’s not that hard.
REASONS TO USE PATTERNS ANYWAY . . .
1) They’re inspiring. Some designs stun me with their creativity and I want to know how someone did that and why I never thought of it.
2) To support designers. I bought a pattern last week that I may never make but it was ingenious and charming. It’s hard to make a living with a craft business, and for $3.36 I was able to say “Thank you for adding beauty and whimsy to this world. Please continue to create.”
3) They give you good advice. Sometimes a designer will showcase a new-to-me technique in a pattern and explain it well. It’s very cool to learn a new skill in a context where you actually use it.
4) It’s not as much work as starting from scratch. There is only one pattern that I make exactly as written, and that’s Cat Bordhi’s felted moebius basket. I made 2 baby sweaters in the past month from different patterns and I changed everything from construction techniques to neckline treatment to number of buttons, but it was still faster than starting with my own gauge and design because I liked some of the elements of those patterns.
A pattern is your tool, not your master.
Gauge is your tool, not your master.
Once you believe that, your knitting breaks out of its work cubicle and becomes a playground.
What do YOU think about that outlandish opinion?
HI Cheryl !! Ive found your videos so helpful. Am not a super experienced knitter and like everyone I guess have a few well knitted HUGE sweaters as a result of gauge issues. After reading Sweaters 101 I’m ready to try again. Ive chosen what I thought was a fairly basic cardigan pattern . Saddle shoulders stockinette knitted top down. (maybe not so basic??) Where do I start?? Ive downloaded your Raglan pattern as a start (I think saddle shoulders are a variation of raglan?) but the schematic for the cardigan is alot different. Should I just be aiming to get a few crucial measurements right and then go with the flow or is this just too hard for a first attempt at adjusting sizing?? Thanks so much.
Warmest regards
I use patterns basically for inspiration and reference. This is true whether they’re knit, crochet or even sewing. I use recipes the same way.
I can do this because I learned the same way you’re teaching: I wasn’t taught to slavishly follow patterns (or recipes). I was taught proper techniques and what they will produce. Armed with that, one can adapt for ones own purposes.
I’m 62 years old and even in my own generation I find that kind of teaching and knowledge rarer than not. So when I found your book and your videos I felt like I’d found a kindred spirit (and I did buy the book because it’s an invaluable reference tool)!
Thank you for all you do!
In the words of the inimitable EZ: “I am the boss of my own knitting!” Here’s to arming another generation of fiber crafters with the tools they need to be the boss of theirs!
I would love to see more mastery of a variety of important skills like cooking (like you I don’t follow recipes exactly except for a very few cakes) and gardening and sewing. And thank you for buying and appreciating the book.
Hi Cheryl; Love your interesting and upbeat,informative EMails.
Recently started a basic sleeveless top. The BACK worked up quickly then I started the front…well…Row 1: (RS)M1 at front centre,mark it with a thread. Work 27 rows. Row 28(RS)K until5 sts remain to marker,M1,K11,M1,Knit to end. Mark new sts.Work 27 rows. The picture of the sweater looks like almost rows of vertical eyelets. How to get that effect??After doing the first row and going on to do 27 rows…how do I work around the M1? Hope I don`t sound too terribly dumb. Been knitting for years…Thanks for any help. Marian
Do you have a photo Marian? If so, email it to me at cb@cherylbrunette.com And are these the exact directions? This doesn’t make much sense to me. You make 2 increases every 28 rows? Off-center?
I use a great deal of hand spun yarn as I now make most of my own yarn. I love the natrual colors of the wool. I am also beginning to spin my own cotton for weaving. This advice is particularly important for hand spinners. We are out in the woods knitting wise and unfettered by yarn that is exact cause as hard as we try, hand spun is not exact, so how do we think we will get any gauge that is exact.
We won’t. And as far as I am concerned, that’s just fine. It’s my yarn and what I make from it will be mine…sweaters not withstanding. Your book is just in time….again!
bjr
Yes! First of all, let me say I admire you for spinning. I’ve never taken it up because I have too many other irons in the fire but I love the thought of the process and have seen some gorgeous, wonderful, unique yarns.
And yes. Sweater 101 has long been used by “The spinsters and the knitters in the sun . . .” (From Shakespeare’s TWELFTH NIGHT, one of my favorite plays that I taught for years to my high school English students.)
Three or four winters ago I found a pattern for a simple (but attractive) stocking cap with an interesting cable design. The only part of the pattern that actually worked correctly was the ribbing and the first cable twist. After that the pattern was just completely wrong, and this was in a well-known knitting magazine! Since this was not my first rodeo – or my first stocking cap – I recalculated, improvised and came up with a hat that looked something like the one in the magazine. If I had continued as instructed the hat would have been two feet long and the cables would never have come together as pictured. I’m pretty sure that kind of hat has never been in style. 🙂 That was the last knitting magazine I ever purchased.
Ugh! Disaster narrowly missed. I’m glad you were able to improvise. It’s novice knitters that I worry about. They come new and enthusiastic to the craft and then get discouraged when it doesn’t come out. Even experienced knitters have this happen. 🙁
I often find patterns for beautiful afghans but, alas, they are knitted in strips and I hate, hate, hate, having to sew things together, hence my terror of trying to make an article of clothing. My question is, do you think that any “strip” afghan pattern can be made into a one-piece by just placing markers between what would have been the strips? I have been reluctant to do this because I didn’t want to get to the end only to find that the rows don’t work out.
Thank you for any assistance.
I don’t see why it wouldn’t work unless the pattern stitches used for each strip are different and have dramatically different row gauges.
I am a spinner. I make my own yarn, therefore, I shall have a totally diffrent gauge for each and every yarn I use. What you teach is valuable for us hand spinners cause our yarn is just that. Our yarn. I needed to know how to adapt my yarn to any sweater pattern and now it is possible.
bjr
I’ve tasked myself with writing a knitting pattern because: a) I make a reallly cute little boy’s cardigan that I’d like to share, b) I need to get my ideas recorded in a fashion that I can repeat after years of neglect, c) it seems like a good idea to challenge my retirement-aged brain with something new. Grapling with how to communicate my design without sabotaging knitters may just put me off the project. Is it fair to put a pattern out there with a suggested gauge, when I’m aware of the complications? (Furthermore, is it fair to ask you to be my conscience?)
Cheryl I love your practical advice and encouragement!!! I knitted a sweater 40 years ago that I loved, except for the back neckline. It was too close to my neck and though I had spent a lot of time making it and received many compliments, it just was not comfortable. I could have used your methods back then. I am so glad I have it now so when I make things now they will fit. Many thanks, and Merry Christmas, or whichever holiday you all observe.
Thank you Roxanne. Merry whatever you celebrate to you too. I still learn things all the time to incorporate into my work. I think I’ll keep knitting. I think I’m getting somewhere. 🙂
a few years ago I was trying to find a pattern to knit an “adult” sweater for a 20 inch fashion doll. In the end I took an adult vintage pattern that I liked the look of and used crochet cotton and very small needles and altered the pattern as needed to make a very reasonable replica of the pattern for the doll. I was happy with the results and so was the owner of the doll
What a wonderful project (and what good eyes you have.) I had a friend who crocheted with sewing thread and the tiniest hook available. Her work was cunning and beautiful.
Great advice As a novice knitter I was once a slave to patterns and had a lot of difficulty getting the right gauge and therefore getting a garment to fit. So, I stuck with patterns that did not matter like for scarves and blankets and such. Then I stumbled onto books by Elizabeth Zimmermann and learned to do the math and rework a pattern to MY gauge with MY yarn. In effect to be the boss of my own knitting. I know use knitting patterns the same way I use a recipe. As a basic set of instructions. It is so rewarding and such a feeling of freedom to have the confidence to rework a pattern you love to fit your own gauge and yarn and to tweak design components to fit your own desires. I love your sweater 101 class. I already knew the basics, but it really helped me a lot. Thanks.
Thanks so much for commenting Rebecca. EZ is certainly one of my knitting heroes. And you are welcome . . . many times over.
I’m a very inexperienced beginning knitter. On the other hand, I’ve crocheted for 45+ years, and I changed crochet patterns as often as I took a breath almost—-it generated no trauma for me. I’m trying to learn to make Mitered squares for crying out loud and have to write it out step by step (Go ahead and laugh, I’m fine with that for you experienced knitters.) and they still come out unsquare. I never blocked any of my crocheting in my entire life, but I have to pray that blocking and/or sewing the “squares” together will result in real squares. I haven’t done any “pick up and/or knit” stitches yet so I can save a few thousand hours of sewing stuff together when I could be knitting. I do have brain damage from a rare stroke 12 years ago, so I blame it on that to some extent. I just keep repeating to myself, “Practice makes perfect” and plug along. As for knitting patterns, I find so many of them don’t give ENOUGH info for a newbie like myself, but that’s probably a matter of personal preference.
Hi Karen. Have you looked at my video on how to make a mitered square afghan? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDGxPfRUpR0 That might help. Also, from what you’re describing I wonder if you’re not trying to make them in stockinette st (knit a row, purl a row) instead of garter stitch which is knit every row. 2 rows of garter stitch are equal to the width of one stitch. Stockinette stitches, on the other hand, are little rectangles so you can’t make a mitered “square” out of them. See if that helps.
Love, love, love Sweaters 101 – so smart, and Cheryl, you are a born teacher. I am just finishing up my second sweater, based on a pattern I bought, but totally customized. I chose my own yarn, based all measurements on a well-fitting store-bought sweater, made it set-in sleeve instead of drop-sleeve, adjusted ribbing-to-body increases to my liking, knit perfect-length sleeves top down using your more-or-less formula to calculate decreases, etc., etc, and it’s coming out perfect. The one word I would use to describe the benefit of your book is “control.” I feel in total control of the design and construction of my sweater, and feel I could easily adapt any pattern to my own liking. Now, as a relatively new knitter I’ve made mistakes along the way, but there too, Sweaters 101 has been a blessing, giving me the tools and confidence to fix them. In my opinion, the combination of this book and your wonderful YouTube videos cannot be beat. Forever thankful.
Oh my gosh Jerry. Thank you for this lovely comment. And for the record, I’m a “relatively old knitter” and I still make mistakes along the way. 😀 But I know how to fix them. I’ve told people for years that the difference between a professional knitter and an amateur is that the professional has ripped out more yards of yarn than the amateur has knit . . . always trying things out, you know. Thanks again for making me smile with gratitude.
Thank you. I generally match my knitting gauge to the pattern’s, but still the sweaters I make for my self are a touch large and I have to really work at blocking them to fit me well. One pattern, that I LOVE, turned out so large that I soaked the sweater in hot water and put it in the dryer on fifteen minute increments and finally was able to block it so it fits. Others are really tight, and I have to stretch them slightly. Thanks for helping me feel vindicated.
Good Bill! I’m going to make a video about this gauge thing. (I already have one, but this will be a different angle). I always have the students in a live Sweater 101 class compare their gauges (actually, compare the ratio of height to width . . . aye, there’s the rub!) and the variation can be astonishing, not of the stitch gauge so much, but of the shape of the stitch. It wasn’t until last night that I researched it among Ravelry patterns and I was stunned. Makes it more frustrating than ever to tell people that they MUST get the gauge specified to insure fit. They probably can’t get that gauge, even if threatened with dire consequences.
Again, great advice. My pet peeve of so many patterns is the yarn. Yes, I know it might not look the same, but lets face it all of us have yarn stacked some place and we would like to use it some day on something. I want everyone to
put the weight of the yarn next to the yarn with which the article was made.
It helps very much to indicate if the yarn is worsted weight, DK, Sport, etc. You get the idea. Thanks again for the sage advise.
Many of us buy yarn because we love it and we ought to be able to design a sweater around it. Even if they don’t list the yarn weight you can get a good idea from the size needles and the sts per inch that they recommend. Beyond that, knowing how to tweak the pattern numbers to fit your gauge and you’ve got it made (so to speak.)
I often design my own sweaters. First, I’ll use a variety of needles to find the gauge I like with the yarn I’ve chosen. The front and the back are the easy part. It’s the sleeves that present the problem. Unless I’m using a drop shoulder sleeve pattern (where the sides of the front and back are straight), it can be tricky to get the sleeves right.
Yes Wendy. Charting a good sleeve cap, or modifying one, is probably the biggest challenge in charting a conventional sweater. I devote a good chunk of time to it in my live Sweater 101 classes if they seem to have the other stuff well in hand.
I love that advice. Very well explained and comforting to know that even the best of best knitters have issues with patterns. I’ve never had too many mishaps with them myself. I don’t knit…yet… I’m a crochet-er. I’m reading up on knitting & techniques before buying tools needed. Seeing what are the basics. However, I find your info useful in the crochet world as well. God bless, Merry Christmas, & keep the posts coming!
Thank you Cuba, for commenting so kindly. And I’m glad my posts help with knitting. It’s good to learn some of these things before you begin. It will make it less frustrating for you. And Merry Christmas to you too.