You Can Knit That

You know, that “I wrote a book!” excitement never gets old.

You Can Knit That is my third book, and grew directly out of the questions and interactions I’ve had with my sweater students for the past 5 years.

The big picture

At its heart, You Can Knit That is a practical guide to making all kinds of sweaters – from easy to complicated to everything in between. Regardless of your style preferences, your body type, or what you like to wear, there’s a hand-knit sweater that will make you feel like an utter rock star. This book helps you identify that sweater, and then make it with as little fuss as possible.

Compared to Knit to Flatter and Knit Wear Love, You Can Knit That takes a step back – and gives you great tools and advice whether your sweater is as complicated as a stranded yoke sweater, or as simple as a few rectangles sewn together.

How it’s structured

I break the book up into three chapters of information and advice, followed by 6 chapters of designs (24 sweaters in all). The early chapters give you great advice and valuable knowledge, in a general sweater context:

• Before the Knitting takes you through yarn choice and substitution, sweater fabric, swatching, and selecting a pattern you love.
• During the Knitting steps you through a knitting pattern – helping you understand what you can learn from each part of the pattern, and which parts you should feel free to ignore!
• After the Knitting picks you up with a pile of sweater piece(s), and helps you get from there to your next favorite garment.

The patterns themselves – 24 in all! – are broken down by sweater construction – that is, the physical way they come together. There are:

• Vests: Sweaters without sleeves!
• Drop shoulder sweaters: And why they’re worth a second look, even if you hated them in the 80s.
• Integrated sleeve sweaters: Where the sleeves and body are knit together. (True confessions time: I love these.)
• Raglans: Raglans are great sportswear – I teach you how to make them work for you, and give several different styles.
• Yoke sweaters: Why it’s great to knit a sweater in the round… …and what the limitations are, too.
• And, of course, my beloved set-in sleeve garments – for when a tailored sweater is what needs to happen for you.

The styles range farther and wider than my previous books, including some boxier silhouettes – want to see them?

(Photos by Karen Pearson and used with permission.)
 

 

 

 

 

Need some practice?

One of my favorite things about this book is that I packed it full of low-time-commitment, work-it-through-the-easy-way exercises – including some sweaters for the wee ones in your life. You don’t need to work through them, but there’s nothing like learning a new skill on a smaller scale!

I hope you love this book as much as I do – I’m immensely proud of how it turned out. So if you’ve been nervous about making sweaters – or even if you’ve made a few that you love – I hope you’ll give it a try.

I promise you’ll find great garments and useful advice in You Can Knit That.