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Who’s the Blonde Chicken?

Hi! I'm Tara and I'm the Blonde Chicken behind all this yarn! You can read more about how I got this silly nickname here or come learn about crafting a business here.

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Never hate another sweater

This week I found the best resource EVER on knitting sweaters that fit and flatter your shape.
Blue Cabled cardigan

I am so blown away, all I can do is tell you to go there NOW and read the entire thing. It’s the Fit to Flatter series, by Amy Herzog on Stash Knit Repeat.

After you read the whole series (and take pictures of yourself…and measure yourself), check out her Fit to Flatter review of the new Twist. It’s a fabulous explanation of how to take the principles of picking-the-right-pattern and to apply it to the patterns you already love.

If you want to chat about knitting sweaters that fit, check out the Ravelry group (I’ll be there!). And if you’re looking for some sweater patterns that will look great in handspun yarn, check out this list of handspun sweater patterns.

But let’s get personal…

According to some incriminating photos of my in my yoga pants + tank top, I have a slightly bottom-heavy (but just slightly, the line is like, 1 cm bigger on bottom), so I need sweaters that have more interest near my face. Because I appreciate anything slimming, I should look for sweaters that create vertical lines (like, an open cardigan that hangs straight).

Have I been choosing the right sweaters?

Let’s have a look:
front of blue cardigan

My very favorite sweater is my own pattern and I call it Cabled Satisfaction. It’s based on Elizabeth Zimmerman’s bottom-up sweaters. Knit in the round, with big cables up the fronts and little cables at the raglan decreases that join in the cabled top border. I think it fits all the requirements!

Apothecary on the needles

Right now, I’m working on the Apothecary Sweater, which has an entrelac panel at the neck and down the front. The bottom hem is plain, as are the sleeves. I actually only have one sleeve left and now that I’ve read the series, I’m going to make sure that the hem of the sweater and the sleeves end at different points (and that it’s not my widest point!)

The beginnings of Amelia

The unfinished sweater I’m most excited about is Amelia. Her front panels of vertical lines and the fact that I’m going to wear her open (not buttoned at the top like the pattern shows), are flattering. I’ve lengthened the waist band (to hit my natural waist and highlight it). If I had read the series first, I may have skipped the strong horizontal border of garter stitch. (I’m way past the point shown in the photo..I need to take some more pictures!)

What are you knitting? Is it flattering?

Tell me in the comments!

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  • http://twitter.com/jovanevery Jo VanEvery

    If you decide you want to lose that garter stitch border at the bottom and you don't mind losing the inch or so of length (or could still compensate for that higher up), you could run a thread through the bottom row of stockingnette, cut it off, pick up the stitches, knit a purl turning row, knit a few rows of stockingnette, and turn it under for a hem. The fact that the picked up and knit down stitches will be half a stitch off will not show because it's inside (and you have that purl turning row to make a nice neat line along the bottom).

    Just an option, in case it's helpful. I loved that series, too. I think it would be well worth through the $$ her way to get the whole thing in one PDF.

  • http://blondechicken.blogspot.com blondechicken

    Thanks for the tip, Jo!
    I've cut sleeve hems like that before…so I'm not too afraid of it.
    The thing is, I LOVE that garter hem. LOVE!
    So I guess I'll just need to finish up the sweater and see what it looks like on
    me…

    Tara

    ________________________________

  • http://synesthetick.blogspot.com shana

    awesome, thanks for linking to it! i can see this being helpful when choosing stuff to make stuff for others who might have a different shape, too.

  • http://www.tilthforhealth.com Sally JPA

    Ooh, I particularly like that Cabled Satisfaction sweater. I always want to start knitting, but when I do start, I knit terribly uneven rows. I'm taking a sewing class now to see how that goes. :)