CustomFit Stonington and Twisted PDX

As you know, I was following Amy Herzog back when she was writing Fit to Flatter on her blog. That eventually grew into a Craftsy class, the book Knit to Flatter, and the whole MakeWearLove/CustomFit empire. In fact, Amy has just published her second book, Knit Wear Love.I’ve knit three sweaters using the CustomFit system – two for me and one for S1. The ones for me are good, but not awesome. I began considering that perhaps my measurements were a bit off. There are now a number of LYSs that have been trained to do CustomFit measurements. One of those shops is Twisted, in Portland (OR). I was there for some work meetings last month, so I  decided to make an appointment at Twisted.

I worked with these two fabulous women, Taunia (left) and Arwen. They are like reference librarians, except instead of working with information, they talk about yarn, sweater construction, and measurements. They carefully perused my Ravelry photos of CF sweaters and we diagnosed them thoroughly before measuring.

Do you think my new numbers are different from my original ones? Oh yes they are. How different? Take a look:

upper torso circumference	-1.5”
bust circumference	same
waist circumference	+1”
high-hip circumference	+.125”
medium-hip circumference	+2.25”
low-hip circumference	+2.375”
tunic circumference	-5.5”
waist to high-hip	+.75”
waist to medium-hip	-.25”
waist to low-hip	+1.5”
waist to tunic	+6”
waist to armhole-shaping	-.5”
armhole depth	Same
bicep circumference	Same
elbow circumference	-1”
forearm circumference	-.25”
wrist circumference	-.125”
short sleeve to armhole	+3”
elbow sleeve to armhole	+1”
3/4 sleeve to armhole	+4.25”
long sleeve to armhole	+2.125”

I highlighted the two most important numbers: upper torso and long sleeve. Note that they measured my upper torso a full 1.5” smaller than my original number. They really pull that tape measure tight for this measurement. Also note how weird my sleeve measurements are, especially the long sleeve. Again, they really started measuring from right up in my armpit, which is not really how the web video tells you to do it (there’s a whole bit about the top of your camisole and a string…it’s weird). So I should be knitting my long sleeve a couple inches longer than I have. Note how big the difference is on the 3/4 sleeve – that explains why the sleeves came out so much shorter than I expected on the grey sweater.

HMMMMMM.I’m not sure how well you can see this in the photos, but the sleeves on this Stonington that I just finished are kinda short. I kept tugging them down while we were taking pictures, but they kept creeping up. They really do need another 2”. I’m considering taking the sweater apart and reknitting the sleeves. I have plenty of yarn - I used under 4 skeins and have 3 left! I think ripping the seams out will be the biggest pain… but it will take less time than reknitting an entire sweater. Also, I used the alternating cable cast-on at the cuffs and it is a bit tight. I’d prefer the regular longtail for more stretchiness.

Of course, what I really want to do is start a whole new sweater. I have several to knit in the coming months, but I need to procure yarn for S1 and my mom. I have two sweater quantities of yarn for myself, but I need to figure out what to make.

First, I have this Quince & Co. Lark. I started to make a Sprig but it came out all wrong. I’ve ripped that out, and reskeined and refreshed the yarn. It’s ready to wind again.

And second, I have this Saco River Dyehouse Lopi that I got through a Kickstarter campaign. It is 70% alpaca and 30% wool. The blend is tricky – that’s a LOT of alpaca and it will want to grow.

The colors of these two yarns look very similar here, but the Lark is a bright emerald and the Saco is more of a muted aqua.