I know I’ve said this before, but I love top-down knitting! My favorite thing about top down knitting is that you can try on your project as you knit to get the fit just right for your body.
I’ve talked about my love for top-down construction in this blog post about knitting a top-down tee and this blog post about adding waist and hip shaping to garments and this blog post about my process for measuring the upper body in a top-down sweater.
Almost all of my tee and sweater designs are top-down construction. I design in top-down construction because I prefer it and because I always, always, always want knitters to finish with a garment they will love to wear. The beauty of knitting a garment top-down is that once you understand the basic plan — it is simple to tweak almost any top-down garment to get it just how you want it.
“Need to start the waist earlier or later to get the fit just right for your body? Yes, do it! Need to add more hip increases? Yes please! Need fewer hip increases? Well, aren’t you lucky! Yes do it! Want the final garment length shorter or longer? Great! Please don’t forget that if you decide to lengthen, you’ll need more yarn to finish!”
– October 5, 2017, Tutorial: Waist and Hip Shaping
No two bodies are exactly alike, so I include notes in all of my patterns encouraging knitters to try on the tee or sweater as they work to get the fit just how they want it. I write my pattern notes as suggestions. But I really hope knitters will take the time to try on their project as they go. It’s much nicer to realize early if you need to make a change to get the fit just right for your body! And trying on your project as you is the best way to test and change as you go.
Note: My favorite thing about top-down
– some variation of this in literally all of my top-down knitting patterns
garments is you can try them on as you knit to get
the right fit for you. No two bodies are exactly alike,
so please try on the tee on as you work to get the
fit just how you want for your body. Feel free to add
or subtract increase rounds as necessary.
These 3 spots are perfect to try on your top-down garments as you knit:
- A few rounds past the underarm cast-on and joining the body in the round to check the arm-hole depth and also to test the chest circumference.
- 3 to 4 inches below the separating the body and sleeves to see where you would like to begin any waist shaping.
- At the end of the hip increases as written to see if you like the fit. If you want to add more hip increases here, do it! If you want to rip back and remove some of the hip increases, do it! This is also a great place to think about where you want the final garment length to fall on your body. You’ll want to think through how much length the bottom edging or ribbing will add to your garment and make some notes about how much further to knit.
Because I love how easy it is to try on a project as I work, I usually also check these 2 additional spots:
- A few rounds past joining in the round and casting-on the center front stitches to test the neckline.
- After 4 of the hip increases to see if I want to continue adding hip increases.
As with all things in knitting, you have choices for trying on your top-down knitting. All you really need is something to put the stitches on to keep them safely contained. I normally round up several circular knitting needles and slide the live stitches onto as many needles as needed to fit the garment over my head and shoulders without dropping any stitches. If I don’t have extra knitting needles handy, I’ll use scrap yarn instead. Or some knitters use Try-It-On Tubing made specifically for this purpose. Whatever method you choose — please try on your top-down garment as you work to get the fit just right for your body! And take notes on your pattern as you make decisions! That way you can follow your notes the next time you knit a top-down tee or sweater.
Happy knitting!
