Thoughts on Sweater Ease

Since this is a perfect time to knit sweaters (and I’m trying to finish up about five of them this month!) I thought it would be good to share this article from Knitting Daily discussing the issue of ease in sweaters and how you decide which of the sizes given in a pattern is the one you want to knit.

This issue came up specifically because people were asking about the amount of ease in a particularly lovely sweater from the current issue on Knitscene. Editor Amy Palmer notes that the magazine does not indicate how much ease these is in any given pattern, but you can find the right size for you based on the measurements in the schematic.

There are a lot of things that go into how much ease you want in a sweater, and how the model looks in the garment probably shouldn’t be a consideration. It depends on how you like a sweater to look and feel, if you tend to wear shirts under your sweaters, your gauge and the stitch pattern involved.

It’s a lot to think about but it’s an essential first step to sweater success!

[Photo via Knitscene.]

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork.

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn.

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look.

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me.

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round.

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.

Have you read?