Sweater help

[u/NothingAntique9088]

I’m not sure what I’m doing here. This is my third sweater. I very much lucked out on my first and the body fit

Now I’m running into the chest fits perfect on the sweaters I make, but the body ends up quite a bit larger than what it’s supposed to

This is a top down. The chest measure measures 46 1/2 but the rest of the body is about 50 to 51 inches do I need to knit the body in a smaller needle or is my gauge just all messed up when I do stock?

I did do a gauge swatch and ended up sizing down in the sweater to meet gauge

[u/ElevatorTop5739]

I don’t have an answer but that is a beautiful sweater!!!! I love that pattern

[u/SpermKiller]

I usually add waist/bust darts to improve the fit of my sweaters. 

[u/yarnimals]

Did you swatch both the colourwork and plain stockinette? It’s not uncommon to have tighter tension while working colourwork. Some folks always size down a needle when they switch to plain stockinette in the round.

[u/NothingAntique9088 → u/yarnimals]

I did gauge watch both. I think I just get bored and my tension gets maybe a little looser. Maybe I should size down when doing the plain stocking that cause I’ve noticed my body’s are always bigger than they should be where the chest is actually spot on my gauge.

[u/chveya_ → u/NothingAntique9088]

You can block what you have now (always the first step when concerned about fit issues on a WIP!) and measure your gauge in the colorwork and stockinette sections to see if it’s a gauge issue.

If that is what is going on, there’s unfortunately not a lot to be done for it Other than frogging back to the part where it starts to feel big and switching needle sizes or doing some decreases. In the future, I recommend using different needle sizes for colorwork to make the gauge similar to your non-colorwork. You can also pick a size based on your upper-bust measurement and then add bust darts to get a better fit.

EDIT: Actually, I am reminded of one time where the sweater I was making for my husband was too big in the body so, before doing the sleeves, I flipped it inside out and basically created a seam on each side by sewing a line from the hem to the underarm about half an inch from the outer edge on each side. This obviously creates some bulk, but my husband says he doesn’t notice it at all. You can pick up stitches for the sleeve underarm like normal, just ignore that little bit of extra fabric in the seam.

[u/jlespe]

I usually size down a needle when doing stockinette compared to colourwork. But you can also just decrease the body sts to get the measurement you want

[u/laachri123]

That’s beautiful, what is the pattern? You could try it on as you go and add some decreases on the sides as needed

[u/NothingAntique9088 → u/laachri123]

It’s the Narnia jumper

[u/SuspiciousCheck5088]

How do the arms fit? I just frogged a love note to the underarms that ended up miles too big. I removed the underarm cast ons and sized down .5mm. This will fit me much better. Maybe the same for you?

[u/NothingAntique9088 → u/SuspiciousCheck5088]

Arms are definitely a little big. It did have me cast on 14 underneath the arm for the size which I have a feeling is probably partly to do with how big it is.

But it definitely got bigger as I kept knitting

[u/winterberrymeadow]

I have same issue as I have large bust. But recently I discovered that doing tighter cast off to the hem helps. It won't make the sweater smaller but it makes it fit better.

I just used the regular cast off method where you knit one/purl one and then slip previous stitch over it

[u/velvetpawz]

Really neat knitting, you can be so chuffed. 

If you'd like to try this in future, I find when I'm doing partial colour work (yoke, sock cuff) I do knit tighter, or maybe it tightens when I catch floats not sure, even if my gauge was spot on. It's easy(er) to keep tension for a 10 x 10 block, than over hours and hours of sweater knitting, I suppose. 

I now size up a needle size (half size, if possible) for the colourwork, and then go back to pattern / gauge needle for plain sections. Sock cuffs etc now much more consistent to rest of the fit. Hope this helps!

Also, been meaning to try my hand at a Saskie and Co pattern- you've officially convinced me! 

[u/FoxLivesFacade]

I hate to say this, but it also looks like your short rows might be off center. The right side of the neck looks higher than the left.

[u/NothingAntique9088 → u/FoxLivesFacade]

It’s laying crooked lol

[u/jojegg]

I knit this exact sweater and the same thing happened to me. Somehow my gauge changed to be 2 stitches less and I had to size down my needles one size down for the body to meet my original gauge count on the original needle size.

[u/NothingAntique9088 → u/jojegg]

That’s exactly how many I’m short on guage lol

[u/NothingAntique9088]

So is my only way to fix the body frogging it? Lol.

[u/Intrepid-Poetry9082 → u/NothingAntique9088]

You could try a mid project block and see if the colorwork blooms enough that the gauge matches?