The Secret to Knits You Actually Wear

We all have knits we never wear. That cardigan in the back of the closet that falls off your shoulders. The hat with the not-quite-wide-enough brim. The shawl that’s just a little too small to drape nicely over your shoulders.

We’re knitters, we don’t have to suffer these atrocities! We can customize anything we make so it fits just right. Here are 10 modifications you can use to make everything you knit feel custom.

1. Use bust shaping if necessary. You don’t have to make a bigger size if the only place you need more room is in the bust. Don’t end up with a sweater that fits like a sack if that’s not what you want.
2. Use waist shaping if necessary. Kind of like #1, but the other way around. Add or remove inches at the waist to get exactly the fit you want.
3. Add short rows to the back of the neck. Many (most?) sweater patterns already have short rows to raise the back of the neck up higher than the front. But some don’t have any or maybe not enough for your taste. Adding some short rows to the back of the neck makes the fit more comfortable and looks a thousand times better.
4. Customize the length of the sleeves! Not everyone who wears the same size has the same length arms. Designers know this, but the best they can do is write the pattern with the most likely sleeve length for each size. It’s up to you to make sure the sleeves are the right length for you.
5. Change up the cuffs. I almost always change up the cuffs on sweaters. It took a few sweaters living in the bottom drawer to make me notice that I’m pretty particular about my cuffs. Two inches of ribbing is my absolute minimum, sometimes I do 6 inches and fold them up!
6. Look at the overall size of a shawl. Compare it to your body size and how you want to wear it. You can add repeats to make it bigger. If you want to wear it bandana style and need it smaller, cut out some repeats or sections. 
7. Consider the border of a shawl. Do you love the contrast color and want to make it wider? Does the giant border take away from the gorgeous yarn you chose for the body of the shawl? Adjust as needed to make it exactly how you want it!
8. What kind of bind off does the shawl have? If you’re knitting a top-down shawl, that’s a lot of stitches and a huge opportunity to customize. I love an i-cord bind off, personally. Some people might like a delicate picot bind off. You aren’t confined to what the pattern says.
9. How’s the brim of that hat? It can make all the difference. Maybe when the pattern was written, a different type of brim was in style. If you like the rest of the hat, just change the brim to what you like. 
10. Do you have a favorite level of slouchiness in your hats? Add or remove rounds to adjust the slouch in a hat.

As knitters, we have the skills to make things exactly as we want them. We should never suffer through a day pulling the waist of our sweater to stretch it out every five minutes. Why would we compromise with a bandana shawl that covers just a few too many inches of the rest of our outfit? It doesn’t have to be that way. The difference between a knit that never sees the light of day and one in heavy rotation is usually just one or two modifications to the pattern.

How do you customize your knitting projects? Share your ideas in the comments so we can inspire each other!