a thought

Why are the front and back of a sweater usually the same size? Is this one more thing based on a man's body instead of my own? Knitting stretches so most of the time this idea works. It definitely makes the math easier but it doesn't take into account any kind of bust line. Could we accommodate a bosom in a fitted top down sweater? I started to cast on as I was thinking of all these questions.

I decided to make the Front measure 1" smaller than the Back (no point in being excessive here). My bust measures 38" around. You have to begin somewhere so let's begin with the idea of making this sweater my exact size of 38" around. Which means the Back of my pullover is going to be 19" wide. And I'm going to make the Front 1" smaller so it will have 18" across (this gives me negative ease, meaning it would end up smaller than me and way, way too tight). But what if I worked some double increases just on the Front to add on an extra 3" to the width.The larger holes are where I increased 2 sts instead of 1. It makes the Front want to dive under the arm, in a good way. So now I have a pullover with a Back of 19" and a Front of 21". I think now I could knit down about 3-4" to below my bust and then decrease back to 19" across the Front. I measure about 35" around under my bust so a 38" sweater is still a close fit. Then I would increase at the sides for my shapely hips. Hey, it's worth trying. I think this sort of mimics darts in a blouse without any short rows involved. This could work, I'm almost sure of it. I have some fine tuning to do so back to the beginning I go, this time I'm making it in blue I think. Was that fun or what?!

-Deb

Commenters: None of you can have the green hat (but I'm glad you like it). I like it too and I think it will belongs on my head since the white stuff is coming down again.