If you're a short person interested in knitting a sweater to fit, how do you adjust your knitting pattern? Your primary problem with store-bought clothes is excess fabric in the upper part of a shirt, blouse, top or dress.
Straps are too long.
Necklines are too big.
Clothes fit you better if you pinch up your shoulder seams as if to hang them on a clothesline.
This same alteration works with knitting a sweater to fit.
Here's how to adjust your pattern.
The Crucial Part The distance from your nape to waist is shorter than your pattern's.
If you need less fabric from armhole to waist, just knit fewer rows or rounds.
You also need less fabric as you knit from armhole to shoulder seam.
If you reduce this distance by one inch, for instance, you must also reduce the sleeve cap height by one inch.
This ensures the sleeve will fit into the armhole.
Easiest Adjustment Comes in a Drop Shoulder Sweater For a drop shoulder sweater, knit a shorter body, shorter sleeves, and sew them together.
If you have waist shaping or sleeve shaping, you'll adjust the decreases.
Say you cast on at the wrist and gradually increase to the sleeve top, but want one inch less in length.
If your swatch says eight rows equals an inch, you want eight fewer rows.
Maybe you'll increase every seven rows instead of every eight.
This forms a gradual line from wrist to upper arm, as your pattern expects.
Next Easiest is a Sweater Knit in the Round A raglan or yoke sweater, whether knit bottom up or top down, will need fewer rounds between neckline and underarm.
Maybe you're told to decrease (or increase, if working top down) one stitch each side of body and sleeves every other round.
You may need a double decrease several times along the way from neck to underarm.
Maybe every second or third decrease would be doubled.
Or you could skip a plain, or non-decrease, round every second or third time.
Either way makes for a smooth transition from neck to underarm.
Most Challenging is a Set-In Sleeve Sweater The back, fronts and sleeves will all be affected.
However much you shorten one, you shorten them all.
Your pattern might say to decrease a stitch each side eight times after you bind off some stitches for the underarm.
You'll still need those eight decreases, but maybe do one less row between decreases.
If you figure a good way you'll knit those decreases over one inch less of distance on the back, the front decreases will be rather similar.
You want the same smooth, gradual angle the pattern expected along your armhole edge.
Plan your sleeve decreases next, omitting eight rows evenly spaced from armhole bottom to sleeve cap top.
Again you want a smooth, gradual angle.
Make notes on your pattern, or a photocopy of your pattern, so you know before you cast on exactly what your changes are, where they happen and how.
Then cast on with a smile, knowing you're knitting a sweater to fit you just right.