Potential Ivy modifications

(From the Ivy photoshoot – of course I look this cosmopolitan every day, why do you ask?)

In the six months (whoa! six months already? where has the time gone?) since Ivy arrived at Knitty, I have continued to be amazed at how much feedback I have had on the pattern. I still get emails every month from knitters who are enjoying the pattern or who need help with a certain step. It’s very gratifying.

I also know that not every pattern is suited for everyone identically, so based on the six months’ worth of various blogosphere murmurings, emails, and progress over at the Knitalong, I thought I would make a note of possible ways you can adjust Ivy to make the pattern your own, if…

1. I don’t like bell sleeves.

A couple of knitters over at the Knitalong have simply avoided the bell sleeves by working the ‘twisted rib’ stitch even on the whole cuff, casting on fewer stitches as though both the decrease rows had already happened and simply working with that many stitches for the whole cuff. (I hope that makes sense.) I think this would produce a slim, fitted cuff.

2. The pattern’s too short for me.

(a) If it’s too short in the torso, your easiest fix is to add length on the back and front pieces after the side shaping increases and before the armhole decreases. As long as you add the same amount of length on all 3 pieces, you’ll be fine. A good time to test out if you need this extra step is to hold up the back piece against your body right before you would start the armhole decreases, and see where the waist seems to fall. If it falls too high, go ahead and add a few more rows in stockinette before starting the armholes.

(b) If the sweater is too short across the hips, you can extend the length by working more repeats of the ‘twisted rib’ Ivy pattern before beginning the decreases. This is something you’d have to anticipate before beginning the sweater, I’ll grant you. Adding one extra repeat will give you a little less than an inch more in length. I’m considering this option myself for a 3rd Ivy (when? who knows…someday….) to give it more of a jacket feel.

3. I’d prefer a pullover instead.

I’ve not tried this option, but I have received emails from knitters who want to try modifying Ivy into a pullover, and honestly I can’t think of a reason not to try it. If you were to work with 2 “back” pieces, and make the second “back” piece into a “front” piece by working some neckline shaping, that could work. You could fashion a collar by working a long thin single-repeat of the ivy pattern just as the collar on the wrap has, and then seaming it into the open neckline of the “front.” I imagine this could be attempted easily with a v-neck collar. You’d have to know your way around neckline modifications to do this, but I don’t see why it couldn’t be attempted. BUT, you might also want to consider finding a pullover pattern that you like and modifying it by adding the Ivy stitch along the hem and cuff.

Lastly, if you’re making any modifications that involve length, be sure to have some extra yarn on hand – I’m sure this goes without saying, but hey, you never know

(Wait, I can get this right, gimme one more shot…)

For most people, the biggest challenge seems to be working around the concept of the “at the same time” instruction for the front pieces, alerting you to work the waist shaping/armhole shaping at the same time as the neckline shaping. All this means is that you have to remember to occasionally increase stitches at one end (for waist shaping increases) while you also remember to decrease stitches at the other end of the piece, in a different way (for the neckline shaping decreases). For most people, this is just a matter of figuring out a notation system or memory system to help them keep track of how far they are in each set of shapings. I know I’m not the only knitter that uses the “at the same time” instruction, so if you’re coming across it for the first time with Ivy, then rest assured this knowledge will serve you well for other patterns.

I had one knitter suggest to me that I should modify the pattern to write out row-by row stitch counts to help track these things. Um. All I’ll say is, if someone else wants to spend the time doing this for several dozen rows on each of the nine pattern sizes, they can feel free to give me a call.

I’ve been working on a few other designs in the mean time and I have to say I’m disappointed not to have any complete submissions yet…but hopefully soon! I am never in a shortage of ideas, I’ll say that for sure. If only there were more knitting hours in the day…

Knitting To Stay Sane
One Canadian knitter dabbling in everything from socks to sweaters to pattern design.