It’s one of my strange obsessions. A well formatted document is a joy. A badly formatted one is painful to work on, and it always surprises me that a designer as big as Petiteknit hasn’t nailed this yet
I love your podcasts. Your honesty is refreshing. I totally agree about the formatting and I’m going to look at the pattern selection of Moreca Knit has as the layout of her patterns look great.
You’ve got some great patterns on the go right now! I had Moonset Tee in my Favorites but I think I may bump that into my sooner queue having seen yours. I’ve also been eyeing the Cardic Cocoon but I think I need to be in the right headspace to tackle that one. I love all the neutrals you’re working with - those will be great wardrobe additions.
I think your theory about PetiteKnit pattern formatting could be spot on - my printed Cumulus Tee pattern on an A4 page looks great. I had no idea you guys use a different paper size. 😀
An observation I made is the patterns you find you're having issues with/ you don't find clear (cardi and Claire vest) are not from size inclusive designers. Ozetta is a size inclusive pattern designer and you seem to really enjoy her patterns. I've found in my own knitting that non-size inclusive patterns often have fit issues or unclear patterns. I think this is because size inclusivity requires more attention to perfecting the fit of the design and better instructions for the pattern. Something to consider for your future knitting plans!
That’s a really interesting point, and you’re probably right. Ozetta is quickly climbing to be one of my favorite designers. Not knowing much about the design process, I do think it makes sense that as a designer you’d be more switched on to the detail if you’re creating with lots of different body types in mind
So I just made the Claire Vest in a size L and I totally agree with your comments about the wideness/deepness of it, but I still really like the end project! I made mine in a single strand of KFO pure silk on 3.25mm needles and it’s a little see through but i do think the pattern works well with the drapier yarn. The Icord and armhole trim really do help a lot to pull the fabric in and keep it reasonable, and even adding the buttons really changed my mind on this. I was very nervous trying it on, but I have worn it over just a bra and while it is very low cut, I didn’t find it too unwearably scandalous and I don’t usually like to show a ton of skin. I also have worn it over a tshirt to make it work appropriate and I think it’s still cute styled like that! I am planning to make it again but in a slightly thicker yarn and sizing down to a M. You could try ripping back and doing the M increases if you think that would help make it more wearable for you without completely giving up on the project! It’s probably my favorite thing I’ve made this year so I just wanted to share my experiences with the pattern.
Hey listen to your gut, frog it! The armhole is huge on the first one and yes these designers just assume too much from people like me who are just starting back again at 67 to knit, I need the space, the hand holding etc. Love your vids, and the comments at the end - ya it could all be different tomorrow LIVE FOR TODAY. Georgia in BC
I just knit the Moon Set Tee this summer. I am happy-ish with the result but I could be happier, and the issue is the finishing of the sleeves and especially body, and I just have a tip, so bear with me. I've previously done I-cord finishing on sleeves and I found my personal result to be too tight if I use the same size needle as the main fabric so this time I straight away reached for a larger size needle to do the I-cord. This was for the first sleeve. It rolled up, so I undid it and reknitted the I-cord with the same needle I was using for the main fabric. Perfect. So, when I reached the bottom of the body, I did the I-cord with the same needle. Rolling up horribly. I redid it with a smaller needle. Still rolling up but at this point I was kind of fed up, decided to wash the whole thing and see what happens. My tee is knit in Knitting for Olive Pure Silk, and it grows with wear. The tee just has this relaxed fit. Plus, the rolling up is not really there after washing - just, eh, somewhat. So I like my tee. However. Not long after I finished that tee I was finishing a shawl of my own making which was knitted in stockinette and I thought I'd finish it with an I-Cord. I had an I-cord on the sides. The one on the sides looked really nice, almost invisible but very neat, and the one on the bottom was becoming bulky. What I was doing was, binding off from the right side so the stockinette side, I was doing "k k ssk". When I went to "k k k2tog" the edge became much less prominent and much more what I was hoping for. Then it dawned on me, this is probably what I should have tried on my Moon Set Tee! Still haven't tried to redo any of the edges on it and I don't know if I will but I'm just throwing it out there to you in case you end up needing it for your own tee. Love your videos. I'm a recent subscriber but definitely a fan.
This is so helpful. Thank you so much for the thoughtful comment. I’ve never knitted I cord as a finishing before so was sort of wondering what I’d need to do to make it look polished
@@easilyknitfluenced Oh, OK, so I guess I'll just list all the things that I know can affect how the I-cord bind off looks like, in case any of these happens to turn out to be helpful to you. One, the needle size. Two, the side of the work from which the I-cord is being knitted - in this pattern it's the right side but nothing stops you from turning your knitting and working from the wrong side in case you think it gives you a better result (for me it's the opposite and I think for most people it's the same, working from the right side is better, but there is this option and some patterns even call for it so here it goes). Three, the number of stitches - you can always make a more bulky I-cord with more stitches. Four, what I've just recently discovered, this 3-stitch I-cord knitted from the right side with "k k k2tog" effectively hides one of the I-cord stitches and gives me a less bulky result, which for some purposes might be desirable (including, potentially, my tee, if I ever decide to re-do the edges). I think this tee a tricky one... I struggled with mine while I was on vacation and when I came back I looked through the projects on Ravelry and sure enough, plenty of people just used ribbing which tells me the suggested I-cord didn't work for them, plenty of people had a sloppy-ish edge especially on the bottom, but there were some very nice looking edges as well so it's doable. I think a lot depends on the yarn as well. Silk (in which I did my tee) is sloppier than merino (in which you're doing yours, right?) but merino has a much stronger opinion about rolling up. My shawl is merino/cashmere/viscose in almost equal proportions, which should fall in between, and even though the knitting there is flat (fabric in the round tends to counter rolling up if given some help) it laid flat after I washed it and I didn't need to pin it. So there is hope I think :) Best of wishes and hoping for a lovely finished object sometime in the future!
I love your channel - I love your honesty! You’re knits are lovely. You know, I think that the vest you think is too big with the armholes and the low V could be worn really cute with a white.Tee . Just my opinion--I had made a lot of V-neck items in my 40s - - and in my 50s I had a open heart surgery so my large incision I don’t like to bare… but with the white tea and my V-neck items, it works for me. Thank you so much for today. I will be back to watch more.
Hi, I think your Claire vest would be really cute with jeans and a white tee. Sort of 90s retro. I want to make it too, and I've always had the intention of wearing it over an outfit. Hope this helps.
Love your honest assessment of patterns, how they are written, how they are formatted and whether you are getting the result you intended. Also enjoy your straightforward critiques of yarns. This level of discussion sets you apart from other knitting podcasts and I appreciate it! It makes me wonder if you use these talents in your career also.
I print my patterns too and Yes! Formatting is important to me. If I can't find my way through the pattern I'm probably not going to enjoy working through it either. Glad I'm not alone in that. Great podcast, wips look fantastic!
I have never considered formatting, but my math brain is completely with you 100%! If it comes down to all things being equal, I’m going with the pattern that is easier to read. Always love your videos! Keep up the good work❤
I’m also making the moon set tee right now! Mines a dark blue. I already know I’ll be making it again at some point! I ended up doing the twisted rib because my 1x1 is awful. Highly recommend!
With your rib you should try combination knitting and even consider knitting it wrong side out. Twisted rib is nice but gives a totally different look. Andrea Mowry has a good tutorial on combination knitting but essentially you knit the knits as normal and on the first round you purl placing the yarn UNDER your needle rather than over. Next round purl through back loop. This makes it much more even but as a loose knitter even this looked a bit messy using KFO merino cotton on a loose gauge: so what I did was turn my rib inside out with a German Short Row and do combination knitting inside out - this looked great. For your Moonset your rib doesn’t look bad and will definitely improve with blocking but this is a suggestion for next time. Good luck
I think you can do a major difference on the Claire vest with the icord edgings so I think you could try finishing an armhole with the icord and see if you can get it smaller. And your plan to wet block the Cardi Cocoon before moving further is probably a good idea because it does look a bit small. I took mine from the closet to measure it and the shoulder seam is about 30 cm which is almost 12 inches. Silk is very slippery and it usually grows in blocking and in use.
Agreed. I actually just steam blocked the cardi cocoon to see what would happen and the back visibly expanded- so I think I might be ok. Fingers crossed!
Thank you for your channel and your excellent comments on knits and knitting in general. With regard to the Claire Vest, your whole body language is communicating an emphatic “No” for this project! I’ve learned over the years that when I am this undecided, it is time to unravel.
Thank you for this great episode. Knitting is not always relaxing as non-knitters think often, it requires lots of calculations, modifications and learning > unlearning then relearning. Format of the patterns; I am with you too. (Btw your hair looks great in this style)
Thank you! Such a good point. It’s definitely not as chilled out as you would think, especially as you build your skills and start to get more and more nitpicky
For the Claire vest maybe you could knit a bralette like a blank band and it would go great with it. Otherwise … it is time to undo it. As we say in minimalism : if it’s not a “hell yeah!” Then it’s a “no”. I have been wanted to do the cardi cocoon in the past 2 years but I have heard a lot about the quality of her patterns. And it’s stopped me from making it every time because I have a full time job and a child. I don’t have so much time for knitting and I don’t want to spend 300 hours trying to figure out what she meant and getting it wrong. The yarn also has a price. At some point I know I will try it out but it’s so beautiful that I don’t want making it become an unpleasant experience.
I hear you on both points. Re the cardi cocoon it’s mostly the shoulders and front panels that take some thinking (I think). After that point you join all the pieces together and then knit back and forth until it’s long enough. But it’s a real time commitment for sure
Your vest, I would knit an icord swatch. Measure where you want the front to close, all the way around the neck and down to the other end of the v and then when you apply the icord, make sure you have that amount of stitches (according to your swatch) to get the length you want. I would also do that around the arm holes, I know the pattern doesn’t have that edging. Find your perfect circumference and pick up that many stitches for the icord. Make sure the gathering that will happen is done on the bottom half of the arm hole so it keeps a neat fit. Hope this makes sense. It looks large now but you can really finish the edging with a precise icord. I’ve made this vest, still haven’t got buttons yet. I will be adding five buttons to the front to close it up a little bit and also stitching a third of the areas that are open closed a little more just for a better fit for what I’m after. I will be able to wear this with a bra easily and the icord has really made the fit spot on for me so hope it’s not lost but it just takes a bit of fiddling 😣 happy knitting 🥰
Always enjoy your podcasts! I can relate to the fit issues. I just finished a cardigan, got gauge, tried on along the way, and it grew when blocked. I was so careful not to let the weight stretch it, but grew! And I’m trying to figure out next step. I really hate to think of frogging.😢
I feel you on this. Sometimes the gauge swatch lies. It can never take into account the weight of the full garment, and what gravity will do to it once it’s on a human body
Not that you asked😉 I would wait until you finish the trim to see where it stands. Having said that.. I had a similar problem with a whip from 3 years ago! I just finished it and it’s workable!
Before you make a decision of undoing the first garment (white speckled vest) knit around the arm trim according to the pattern and it should bring it up more and make it fitting better.
I’ve seen the Claire Vest on my Instagram feed a lot and mostly it’s worn by younger fashion forward women whose chestical area has not yet given into gravity 😃 I would use the yarn for something wit more wearability. I find that if I have to try hard to make it work, it’s not worth it 🤓 Edit: I’m a graphic designer and I looove a good layout 🙌🏻 EU is A4, but you can reduce margin settings on your printer for better readability.
That might be very millennial of me, but could you wear the vest with a fun bralette and make it a statement? I don't think I would have enough strength in myself to frog it, so maybe trust the process and figure it out later? I imagine it could be worn over dresses, so I'm sure you'll find a way to style it 😊
I considered this too! I would have to see how it looks when fully blocked and with all the finishing edges before I could be sure that would work. The other thing I thought of is to wear it backwards and have a cool bralette on
@@easilyknitfluenced Oh, that's good idea too! I think it's worth finishing, maybe it could be very versatile piece, even if it won't be used as intended at first.
I am also critical of how patterns are often formatted. That being said, even if you don’t use Knit Companion ( I do & highly recommend) since we purchase and download patterns as PDF, if you read on your iPad you can enlarge to your hearts content. You just have to figure out how to keep the iPad awake ( somewhere in Settings). I did this until I discovered Knit Companion.
I use the knit companion app. If you are knitting several wips at once (and who doesn’t?) I can move from one pattern to the next and the app remembers where I left off.
About Cardi cocoon, may be you can write to the designer to get more information ? I dont know if this is possible… I am knitting patterns from Marie Christine Lévesque and i wrote to her about a special technique , she gave me the information…
I'm not sure what app you use to print your patterns, or if you pull them up as a .pdf, most printers should give you several options to reformat and custom scale to print something that is legible.
Do you feel like lamana como grande is worth the price? Its the yarn I really want to try but its quite expensive. Also I wpuld like to knit my moby in it!
It’s hard to say at this point. Knitting experience is 10/10, but I won’t know until the recipient has worn it for a while and we see how it wears. It doesn’t feel like a very pilly yarn but I’ve been wrong on that count before! I’ll post updates as and when I have them so stay tuned!
