Book Review: Sweater Success

Chantal Miyagishima is better known online as the designer Knitatude, who shares classic, streamlined designs for sweaters, sleeved scarves and other projects. She’s made it her mission to get knitters confident enough to knit their own sweaters, with the help of her book Sweater Success.

The book is part pep talk, part walk through of all the skills you need to confidently and successfully knit sweaters. It covers basic garment construction and styles, how to pick your size, what ease means and how much you want, tools you need to make a sweater, how to substitute yarn, gauge, reading a pattern, making modifications and blocking and taking care of your knits.

Each chapter covers one of these subjects in detail but also includes a TL;DR (too long, didn’t read) section to give you the basics in a hurry. If you’ve knit a sweater before or feel confident in your current skills, those little sections will give you a quick review and get you to the patterns faster.

There are six projects in the book:

a classic yoke sweater knit from the top down in the round
a simple stockinette stitch raglan (also top down in the round)
the Neapolitan pullover, a garter stitch, drop shoulder, cropped sweater worked in wide stripes and in pieces from the bottom up
a bulky V-neck vest worked in the round from the bottom up
a cropped cardigan worked in one piece from the bottom up to the armholes
a long duster worked in bulky yarn from the top down with wide ribbed edgings (this one doesn’t have buttons and the fronts aren’t meant to meet

It’s a nice range of patterns for beginners, but those with some sweaters under their belts already might find them a little plain, because those stripes are the only pattern that’s not worked in a single color. You’ll find no colorwork, cables or lace here (though the section on blocking shows a lace swatch), which is not necessarily a criticism but something worth knowing going in.

You can see all the patterns on Ravelry. Also worth noting that the designer is the model in all the photos, so head to Ravelry if you want to see the designs on different bodies. The patterns are written for 9 sizes, from XS to 5XL.

If you’ve never knit a sweater before and want a quick introduction to methods, sizing, skills and more, Sweater Success is a good place to start.

About the book: 144 pages, paperback, 6 projects. Published 2025 by Quarry Books. Suggested retail price $26.99.

I rarely understand why something becomes a trend in crafting. Gnomes and geese are both cute I guess, but I never thought we’d be making them for all seasons. (See, for example, this collection of gnome knitting patterns, or these knit geese.)

Another one I don’t totally understand is sardines or little fish more generally. Sure, they’re cute, and the shape is fun, but I had no idea when I was sharing this pattern for a fish-shaped pouch last year that it would become a hugely popular pattern that people are still searching for on the site. It is pretty cute, though, so if you weren’t around then or don’t remember you should got check it out.

Recently another fishy knitting pattern crossed my monitor: the little knit fish from Classical Songbird Designs.

Just as the name suggests, these fish are little, about 4.5 inches or 11 cm from end to end. They look like little sardines and take about 12 yards of sock yarn to make.

You can even make a two-tone fish and use just 6 yards of each color.

This sounds to me like just about the perfect use for the yarn that’s left over after knitting a pair of socks, or a mini skein or several that have been sitting around unused in your stash.

The fish are knit flat in one piece, which makes it easy to stitch on the eyes with more yarn or embroidery floss before stuffing, and you can stitch up the sides while you stuff (though it’s not a very big piece so you could probably stitch and then stuff, finishing with the end of the tail).

Because I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one wondering, I measured an Altoids box and as the pattern is written the fish are a little too big to fit in it (the box is about 4 inches/10 cm long). But you could make the fish a little smaller if you want to make a box of them. Or just make a fishy bag to put them in!

You can grab the free pattern for the little knit fish at Classical Songbird Designs.

[Photo: Classical Songbird Designs.]

Have you read?