Advanced Design Resources

Ready for a bit more of a challenge? Here are some resources to help you get the sweater of your dreams. 

Necklines

Not sure how deep to make your neckline? Here are some typical neck depths for the various kinds of necklines:

  • A standard crew neck depth is 2.5” – 3.5” below the shoulder.
  • A typical scoop neck depth ranges from 5” below the shoulder to 1” above the armhole.
  • Typical V-neck depths range from around 3” below the armhole shaping (for a deep V) to 2” above the armhole shaping (for a shallow V).
  • Typical boat neck depths are 2-3” below shoulder shaping.

Want to make a neckline, and aren’t sure how? Here are some common ones: 

  • Create a turtleneck by choosing crew neck shaping with a neck trim height of 7 – 9” (18 – 23 cm)
  • Create a stand-up collar by choosing crew neck shaping with a neck trim height of 2 – 4” (5 – 10 cm)
  • Create a cowl by choosing scoop neck shaping with a neck trim height of between 8 – 12” (20.5 – 30.5 cm)

Button Bands

Within the custom sweater wizard, the button band allowance and button band trim height are different, to allow for different configurations of sweater. This lets you create cardigans that meet in the middle, that overlap, that have a small gap but long trims that get rolled over, etc. 

Here’s the nitty-gritty:

  • The button band allowance is how much of a gap you’d like between the fronts of your cardigan.
  • The button band trim height is how long you’d like to work the trim.

So if you want: 

  • A 2” button band that overlaps the other button band, choose a 2” allowance and a 2” trim height. 
  • If you want a slight gap in your cardigan, for example to wear it open, you might specify a 2.5” allowance and a 1” band. 
  • If you want a cardigan with overlapping fronts, you might specify a negative 2” allowance, and 2” bands. (This will create a 4” overlap.)

Adding stitch patterns

Right now, CustomFit assumes you’re knitting the whole sweater in the same stitch you used to create your swatch – so all of your pattern numbers are based on a single gauge.

Straight sweaters include no waist shaping, so they’re a great place to make an all-over patterned sweater. Swatch in an allover pattern, enter gauge information from that patterned swatch, and go!

Hourglass sweaters will include waist shaping, making all-over patterning a bit more of a challenge. (Shaping instructions are written using ssk/k2tog for decreases and m1R/m1L for increases, without respect to stitch repeat counts.) If you’re comfortable shaping in pattern and working patterning overpartial repeats, go for it.  

But even if you’re not, you can add some stitch patterning! I recommend doing so in one of two ways:

  • Knit the front with no shaping and an allover pattern; knit the back in Stockinette with shaping; 
  • Add your stitch patterning in a panel, moving the shaping toward the sides a little bit if necessary. 

And when you’re adding panels of stitch patterning to your sweater, here’s the scoop on gauge:   

  • Basic knit/purl textures typically do not change your gauge substantially from Stockinette stitch. Please feel free to mark whatever stitches you’d like to work in pattern, and work away. (Bonus: Many of these textures even accommodate the basic shaping instructions gracefully – just be sure to keep all other stitches in the established pattern!)
  • Small-scale lace panels also typically don’t change your gauge, so feel free to add them. It’s more difficult to shape in lace, though, so these stitch patterns are best placed where there isn’t any shaping: Either under the arms or in the middle of your sweater body, between shaping markers. 
  • Cables suck in your fabric, so you’ll have to adjust your stitch count if you’d like to add one to your CustomFit pattern! A good rule of thumb is to add one stitch for each stitch crossed in your cable. If you have a six stitch cable (3×3), you cross three stitches, so add 3 extra stitches for each cable. If you’d like to repeat that cable three times across the front of your sweater (say): 3 cables x 3 stitches per cable = 9 additional stitches.

Mash-ups

If you’d like to make one of Amy’s designs that are not currently available in the site, please click here to see our CustomFit Mash-Up worksheets. (Want to know what designs are available in the site? Click here!)

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