Love your knitting: an introduction to changing a knitting pattern to meet your needs

Let's say you're starting a new sweater pattern that has really big sleeves like in the photo above. You love everything about the pattern design except those huge sleeves - they're just not for you. Do you plow ahead and make the sweater anyway? Are you likely to wear your finished sweater if every time you put it on, you are reminded that you don't like the sleeves? 

Obviously the photo above that I asked ChatGPT to generate is an exaggeration and I laughed out loud at it. Yet it illustrates a point: so much time, work, and energy go into your knitting, not to mention expense. It may be you forge ahead, make the sleeves, and wear the sweater, but swapping out the sleeves with a style you love would make all the difference in how you feel about your finished project.

Personally, one of the most fulfilling moments I have in interacting with knitters is when they discover that they have the freedom to make a pattern their own, rather than view the pattern as a strict set of rules that must be followed. I can see the excitement in that aha moment, the realization that as makers, they either have the knowledge or can find it to create projects that reflect them, their tastes, and their bodies. What creative freedom!

Ways to change knitting patterns

Knitting patterns are made up of many elements. All patterns have chosen stitch patterns and gauge to yield a specific fabric. Garment patterns have many parts: neck, body, sleeves - all of which need to fit a body and match a person's style preferences. We can make changes in all of these areas. 

Getting fabric you love

When you knit, you are creating a specific fabric that is the result of a chosen stitch pattern and specific gauge (the number of stitches and rows to yield a particular fabric density). When you're knitting, the first thing you want to do is love the fabric you create. 

Gauge

We're told 'we must get gauge' or a pattern won't fit. This is true! But if we don't love the fabric in the first place, what's the point? This is where swatching comes in. Swatching isn't an evil thing, rather it's part of the creative process that allows us to end up with a fabric for our knitted project that we love. Yes, pattern fit is based on the gauge specified in the pattern and we need our garments to fit us. We swatch to ensure all of this. But swatching can be our time for creative play, ensuring that we actually like the fabric resulting from the pattern's specified gauge. 

If you are a beginner knitter, my recommendation is to swatch to get the gauge specified in the pattern so that you achieve the intended fabric and the pattern will fit. This isn't advice just for garments. I once saw a cowl knit in a gauge much larger than prescribed by the pattern. The resulting cowl wasn't even remotely the same accessory as the original and didn't fit in the way the maker wanted. Ensuring pattern gauge would have ensured fit.

Ultimately, we can change the fabric of a pattern. Doing so, however, will require a different size choice in the pattern and/or changed stitch counts to achieve a pattern's finished size measurements. If you opted for a tighter gauge and tighter fabric, you'll want to choose a larger pattern size that makes up for the change. Likewise, if you opted for a looser fabric, you'll need to choose a smaller pattern size that makes up for the difference. You can get specific help to do this or search for instructions, but the point here is that you have the freedom to make this change.

Stitch pattern

Love the shape of a little neck scarf but not crazy about doing it in stockinette stitch? Change the stitch pattern. There are countless stitch dictionaries that offer stitch patterns galore. Oh how I love to swatch stitch patterns and see the results. Swapping out the stitch pattern can be an easy way to change your fabric. Often, as long as you achieve the same gauge with the new stitch pattern, you can follow along with the pattern's shaping instructions using your new stitch pattern. 

Color

People often choose the same color of yarn as shown in a pattern; it can be hard to visualize other colors. But you have the freedom to change the color or even use multiple colors. Marling? Striping? Changing the hems of a garment to a different color? The possibilities are endless. 

Fit

One way we absolutely want to adjust a pattern is by ensuring that our finished project fits our bodies. A champion of this topic for garment fit is Kim McBrien Evans and she offers a set of great articles on the topic. 

For garments, we want to choose a size that fits our shoulders because if a garment fits our shoulders, it could swim on the rest of us and still look like it fits. In choosing a pattern size, take your body circumference measurement of your upper bust (the measurement around your torso at your underarms) and add the suggested pattern ease to that measurement and NOT to your full bust measurement. This will ensure that the garment fits your shoulders/bone structure, however it may mean that the pattern now won't fit your full bust or the largest measurement of your body. But you can increase or decrease your stitches for fit in these areas. Once you get your head around this and try it, you have the formula you need to get fit in your garments. What freedom!

Swapping elements 

Another area to make changes is by swapping entire elements. If we're talking about garments, you remember those huge sleeves from the ChatGPT image? What's stopping you from changing the shape of your sleeves? Maybe there's a sleeve shape from another pattern you can replicate. Maybe it's just the case that a pattern has short sleeves and you want long ones. Extend your fabric! In all of these cases, you'll want to be sure you account for changes that require more yarn so you don't end up playing yarn chicken or worse, running out of yarn. 

Summing it up

Feeling overwhelmed? Start small. These suggestions are intended to help knitters realize that creative freedom is yours for the taking, but start with the easiest approach first to gain confidence. If you always choose the same color as a pattern shows, change it up. Choose your favorite color instead. If you are a beginner and have nailed stockinette stitch, get a stitch dictionary or do a search for knitting stitches and swatch some new ones. Wash your little swatches and check your gauge. If the gauge matches the pattern, it's an easy swap. Dreading tackling changes to garments yet you really want to make them your own? Make just one change to start or take a class that focuses on achieving fit in your garment making. Really look at the suggestion to choose a pattern size based on your upper bust measurement to get fit in your shoulders. If you need to, seek help on how to adjust to fit your body after that. 

Our 1-skein kits are a good place to start

We offer many 1-skein kits where you could try one of these simple changes. I know as a designer, I really love it when makers make my patterns their own.