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.]

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use.

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make.

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!).

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn.

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart.

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern.

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.

Have you read?