Mondrian pullover lion brand yarn

Question. I have a bust of 40. Looking at the positive ease I’m thinking to knit the size small?

Pictured in a size S on model with 34”/86cm bust
You’d have a not as loose fit but I think it would still be very roomy on you. Is that what you want?

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I actually made it in a large and was swimming in it😉. I frogged the whole thing. So I’d like room but not so large. I was guessing that positive ease is built into the pattern? The S shows a 46.5 bust

So you’ve already made it. I don’t know whether small would work as you want or not. I think you’d need to know the finished size you want and take compare it to the sizes given. It seems to have lots of ease included, based on what Ravelry shows.

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Ah, if you hadn’t frogged your first version, I was going to suggest roughly pinning in the side seams or sewing them in with a running stitch to get an idea of how much smaller you would like it.

Do you have any other knitted garments that fit the way you like, at least in the circumference? Then you could measure and see which size will be closest.

(This just gives you a guide, because the thickness and drape of the knitted fabric makes a difference to how things fit and look.)

P.S. The cross-back length can help you to work out how far the drop shoulders will sit down your arms.

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Kushami,
Thank you for the suggestion. I measured the circumference of a sweater I like and the circumference is 48. With the chunky yarn, I think ill. Still do S at 46.5 circumference. Or would M be better? A 48 circumference is closer to the small :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:. I overthink sometimes. I have to get the sizes out of my mind and trust the measurements only. I have never been a Small/Medium in my life! So I made the Large.

I’ve no clue that this will be helpful but I’d work it top down and try it on before I got so far the frogging would put me in a padded cell. I’d also do it in the round so trying it on would give a really good idea of the actual fit.

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Remember sizes aren’t standardised in fashion, so don’t worry too much about small, medium or large designations.

The thing with chunky yarn is that it is thicker. So let’s say you knit a 46 inch circumference sweater in chunky yarn. But 46 inches is the outside measurement. The inside circumference might be 45 1/2 inches. Just a small difference but it can make a difference.

I would choose the size closest to the sweater you like.

As it’s a simple design, and you’ve already made it once, I think you can alter the stitch count slightly to knit a custom size.

To check the cross shoulder measurement, add Fx2 + E. Then drape the tape measure across your shoulders to see how far down the shoulder the seams will drop.

If you want it to fit aimilarly to the modelled version, have a look at where the shoulder seams on the model sit and choose the size that will give you a similar fit.

Just with a quick look, on the model they come down the upper arm about 1/3 of the way to the elbow, I think. You can also allow a little for the fact that drop shoulders drop a little further with the weight of the sleeves.

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Where to measure for drop shoulders:

croquis I

“Black furry caterpillar” line represents where you should put the tape measure (pass behind neck). Go down the arms to about 1/3 of the way to the elbow to get the same shoulder fit as shown in the pattern photos.

You may need to get someone to help with this measurement. Wear what you plan to wear under the sweater.

(Sorry for my poor annotation skills.)

Then you would like measurements Fx2 + E from the sweater schematic to be close to or slightly less than the cross shoulder measurement you took on your body.

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You’ve had great advice already about sizing and custom fit, I only want to add that a good sized swatch made with the yarn and needles you plan to use for this sweater and then washed and dried in the way you would launder the sweater, would be a great help to your decision making process on which size to make.
If you did not swatch prior to making the large size it could be that the finished piece came out even bigger than the project sizes state.
I see your dilemma about the small or medium size, or the custom fit route. I do think a swatch would help. When i have this dilemma I work out how many stitches per inch, and how many inches do I want the width and work out how many stitches this would be in total, then halve for front and back and then look at which size in the pattern has that many stitches (or close to it) at the chest. Then I have a more informed way of choosing.

I made a cardigan for my son and the sizing on the pattern seemed strange. I worked out the numbers as described above based on my swatch and followed the size closest to this number, I think it was something crazy like age 6 when my son is age12!!! I needed to add length to the sizing but otherwise I could follow the set stitch count for the rest of the pattern.
It fit him perfectly, if anything I could have done with a little more length in the body because he had a growth spurt whilst I was knitting and a touch longer would have given more wear, but even so it fits great for now.

Follow the measurements given, not the size name, think how you want it to fit and take into account a larger bust takes up more fabric length so you might want to add length as this is quite a short boxy design anyway, and could end up shorter than you want. Just something I’d check on.

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GrumpyGramma do you work intarsia colour blocks in the round like those on this sweater? I have seen a way of doing this in a tutorial but for me, at that time, it wasn’t really a suitable option but rather something I would keep in mind as a possible method for the future. I would be interested to hear if you have experience of this and how you find it.

:joy: I was almost in a padded cell. My husband was worse. “ What are you doing?!”

Thank you! That was one of the problems with my first sweater. The arms were waaay too long. I’m learning a lot from all you talented knitters! I also realized that the weight of the garment was a lot, so I knew I had it too big.

Yes! I have ended up with a couple of too short sweaters. I’m always afraid that I don’t know enough yet to adjust a pattern, but I was planning to add a couple of inches to the length! Thank you for all your help! Greatly appreciated.:shamrock:

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You know, I never considered the intarsia factor. I have only done enough intarsia to know I’d rather not do it again. Thanks for pointing that out!

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Intarsia made it even worse to frog :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye::frog:

I guess it did. I feel stupid for not even thinking about it using intarsia. I apologize for a very, very not helpful comment.

You have been wonderful. Thank you so much. You are not ‘grumpy’ at all. I’ll think of you as GraciousGramma :purple_heart:

Puleeeeeze! I have a reputation to maintain. Grumpy is me! I salute you for working toward a solution to the problem. I’d have given it up by now because…it would make me grumpier. :stuck_out_tongue: Well, if a grandkid wanted it I probably would persevere. I think you’ll get this done and love the result.

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