Knit to Flatter

Last Saturday afternoon I took a class with Amy Herzog, knitting author and all around genius.  I never understood the concept behind "girl crush" until I spent four hours with a woman who completely changed the way I will look at clothes, and shopping, forever.  Seriously, she's so good, she should be teaching self-esteem classes to teenage girls.  I hate to shop, but now I'm kind of looking forward to it after taking this knitting class, she's just that good.

Amy's the author of a book called Knit to Flatter, and her premise is if something doesn't look good, it's the clothing's fault, not your body's fault.  She demonstrated this by changing up the outfit she was wearing by rolling her cuffs, buttoning her cardigan, and slipping out of her shoes.  The transformation was amazing - and not in a good way, but she knew that.  Her explanation that sweater patterns are designed for "Miss Average," was like a lightbulb moment - of course a sweater pattern based only on bust size is not going to flatter everyone, because the difference in all your other measurements affects the fit.

Amy taught us how to take all our measurements - distances between waist & hip, shoulder to waist, multiple hip circumferences, and nearly a dozen others - and then use those measurements to adapt patterns to fit us to create the most flattering sweater possible.  After all, who wants to spend all those hours knitting a pullover to discover upon completion that it makes you look dumpy and misshapen?

I currently have two separate cardigans on the needles - my birthday project from last year, and another one I couldn't resist starting with some of the yarn I bought at the Fiber Festival - but I have put her book on my Christmas wish list and plan to make one of her patterns as soon as I finish these two sweaters.

If your local yarn shop ever offers a class with her, go - eat Ramen, sell your children, sell (gasp!) some of your stash, but go - it is an amazing experience and you will leave with an unbelievable number of practical tips for knitting yourself something perfect and flattering.