Saturday, March 03, 2007

knit wear design...what your mama didn't tell ya

1. Calculating the circumference of an armscye to knit a sleeve cap to match requires much math...that I last attempted well over 10 years ago.

2. Attempting to design a sweater knit on size 3 needles with yarn that was previously used in another sweater knit on size 8 needles will result in a new sweater that is missing a sleeve and a collar.

3. Attempting to knit a sweater within 3 weeks with cotton yarn on size 3 needles results in shooting pains in the hands and wrists.

4. If you get the crazy idea that you would like to be a knitwear designer (but have no experience) and would like to submit a pattern to be published you should give yourself more than 6 weeks- especially if by 'you' I mean 'me' and I do.

I am learning a lot throughout this process, although I hit a major bump in the road when I realized today that there was no way in hell I would have enough yarn to finish this as imagined. I am going to see what I can do to change my design without re knitting the body of the garment. I guess this is the one thing that sucks about designing...how in the world do they (knitwear designers) figure out yardage needed? This is probably something learned in Design 101 but I am clueless.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have no tips for you only sympathy and good wishes. I don't know how they do it either, I only know they make it look simple and it makes me feel weak. Keep at it.

Anonymous said...

You are so brave to even attempt this. I think anyone who designs knitwear is a genius & you are, even if you don't think so. Good luck!!

Lara said...

The learning process is invaluable. You really should join the create-along that I joined since you are so inspired to design. I think you will find the help of Marnie (Marnie talks) and Julia (mind of winter) very helpful. The link to the create along is on my blog if you are interested.

I am still rooting for you though! I really hope you make the sweater work and make the deadline. Keep us informed!

Persnickety Knitter said...

Well, at least you are learning a lot, right? ;)

Do you have any knitting software programs (Sweater Wizard or whatever)? That would probably help with estimating your yarn needs (even if you are not following the pattern).

Or you could measure out a certain length of yarn (like 3yds or whatever) and see exactly how many stitches you could knit with it. Then use that information along with your stitch/row gauge and the desired finished dimensions to estimate the yarn needed. But that sounds like a lot of math.

Andrea said...

Don't get discouraged. You can do this. That's what my friends are telling me, and now I'm passing it on to you. You do beautiful work. If it helps I'm using Deborah Newton's Knitwear Design and Vogue Knitting's The Ultimate Knitting Book for help.