Sizing Up a Pattern

Q & A for knitters

A knitter asked –

I am a 2x and the largest of most of your sweater patterns is an extra-large. How do I adjust or alter the patterns to fit me?

There are some different strategies that can work. The simplest is using a size larger needle to intentionally alter gauge and therefore "automatically" size up (being careful that you don't go overboard in making too large or disproportionate or too sleazy a fabric). An example where simply knitting at a slightly different gauge has worked well is the #W28 Shaped Tee with Collar Sweater.

Other approaches involve adding pattern repeats. Or keeping the same number of repeats but scale up the pattern motif itself. What might be best depends a lot on the pattern. Some are easier than others. Some are nearly impossible without refiguring everything (i.e. basically re-writing the pattern).

Some examples of sweater patterns that are designed with easy custom sizing in mind:

• #W40 3-to-2 Any Gauge Sweater (worksheet pattern for any size)
• #W37 Sweatshirt Sweater (top-down knit-to-fit)

Shelda Eggers' Ample Knitters website is a great resource for you. Also, there is a listing of several on-line discussion support groups focused on knitting for the larger figure – whether it's for our own or others we love to knit for.

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