The Sweater

New Year's resolutions are seldom part of my MO. There's something about them, and goals in general, that make me instantly stop doing anything that takes me in their direction and, instead, head off on a side road. Some say that I have a problem with authority. Myself, I just think that I enjoy trusting the path that appears rather than trying to hack a new one.

However, in 2009, I did, sort of, have a goal: to knit a sweater that fit me. If I succeeded, it would be the first time in my life (excluding being a very small child and baby, when fit isn't really an issue) that I had a garment with the correct length sleeves. I kid you not. All sleeves on all blouses, sweaters or any other upper garment are always too long for me.

While none of us fit the ideal size that industry has determined is normal, I seem to have taken this to extremes. First, I am short: 5'1" in a 5'6" "normal" world (according to industry standards.) I am large busted (some numbers don't need to be blogged), short waisted, and have short arms. This means that not only are all commercial garments ill-fitting, but even patterns for knitting and sewing, if followed as writ, are useless.

So, I have spent a lot of time altering patterns, with limited success. Then, one day, it hit me: I should create a design that starts with my body, rather than a design that starts with a pattern and then trys to adjust to and change someone else's concept of how my body should be. Now, I know that there's a great metaphor and lesson in there, but I can't follow that right now or I'll be off on one of those side roads that often waylay me from getting things accomplished. So, back to physical reality and designing for my body.

I had some vague ideas about how to do this. Measurements. Gauge. Ease. Design. Type of Sweater. What I needed was a way to pull it all together into The Sweater. I began with Type of Sweater and decided on a cardigan, a raglan cardigan. A cardigan because I always have a basic cardigan that I wear constantly, and my current one was getting pretty raggedy. Raglan because I remembered having raglan sweaters in the past that looked good on me.

Internet to the rescue! I Googled "raglan cardigan" and found this. This is an "unpattern" for The Incredible, Custom-fit Raglan Sweater, described by the author, Pamela Costello, as a "simple, fill-in-the-blanks method" for making a custom-fit raglan. She writes that it is not her original idea and cites Ida Riley Duncan as the first innovator of this method. So, like magic, I was walking down the road that would lead to a sweater that fits.

Like all designing, it required swatching.




It required frogging.




It required some frustration.



But on Friday, I'll show you the results. I'm bettin' that you'll be impressed. Oh, did I mention that I also spun the yarn for it, and that our backyard possums stole it? No? Okay, I'll tell you about that in the next post, too.