Crafting a Life: Brown Yoke Sweater Part 3 - looking at an example garment and number crunching

I've mentioned earlier that I want this sweater to be oversized - a 'sweatshirt' type sweater. So I measured a sweatshirt! I actually measured two of them. One pullover style for the body measurement, and a zipper style that I like the sleeve shape and length on.

Once I had my finished garment inches, I multiplied by the washed and blocked swatch finished stitches per inch and that's my "key" number.

Years ago the late, great Elizabeth Zimmermann (in her book "Knitting without Tears") introduced the "EZ percentage system" that demonstrated the above calculation and how to apply it to a sweater with the body being 100% and the upper arm, cuffs, lower ribbing ect being various percentages. This same system has been used by various authors to describe various sweater templates. All using your own yarn, on your own needles at your natural tension - not trying to 'make gauge' or use a 'industry standard' pattern. This flexibility is wonderful if you aren't a 'standard' size. While designers are providing more size inclusive patterns these days, not all are. And not all 'large' sizes go up to my actual dimensions. Plus what if you are using a handspun yarn, or a vintage yarn you recycled from a thrift store sweater, or a mill end? None of those have manufacture's pattern support!

So take a chance and make your swatch and design a unique sweater!

There's math, to be sure, but you end up with a total custom sized and shaped sweater. Template below is from my very battered copy of "Knitting in the Old Way" which applies the percentage system idea to many traditional sweater types.