Fit Your Knits

[Note: if you tried to click the link to the class and got an error, please try again. I’ve fixed the problem. Sorry for any inconvenience!]

A long long, time ago… [oops, I almost just launched into the first verse of American Pie!] I was given the opportunity to take Stefanie Japel‘s Knit Lab: Fit Your Knits class on Craftsy. The deal was, I would take the class, tell you all about it, and then give you a chance to take it as well.

It sounded like a great idea to me, and so I said, “sign me up!”

That was November-ish, and you know how things tend to go in November and December. That is, “not according to plan.”

I watched the class in the family room on our big ol’ Google TV while stitching Christmas gifts at night.

I watched it on my laptop in the kitchen while making supper.

I watched it on my Android tablet in the living room while folding laundry during the day.

And still, life got in the way and before I knew it we were well into 2013 and I had not finished the class, nor blogged about it, nor given you your own special link for it.

You should take two facts away from this story:

1. There was enough instruction in Fit Your Knits that I could do all of that watching and still not be finished with it. (In fact, the class is roughly 6 hours long!)
2. Craftsy is flexible enough that I can take the class with me from room to room (and device to device) and indulge in some serious multitasking.

Ok, so both of those things are pretty cool, but what about the class itself? That was cool, too.

Stefanie walks you step-by-step through the process of taking accurate measurements of your body, and then she explains how to use those measurements to modify existing sweater patterns to fit your particular curves. You can make adjustments to waist shaping, body length, sleeve length and more.

Most interesting to me was the part where she took two people who both wear the same size and demonstrated the crazy differences in their actual body types. That 38-inch bust could belong to a woman who is 5’2″ or 6’2″ – that’s a lot of inches in the difference, and a lot of room for a pattern to turn out too long or too short. It’s because of this, that the class focuses not only on the horizontal measurements that are so familiar (bust, waist, hip) but also on vertical measurements (bust-to-waist, waist-to-hip, etc.)

There is some math involved in modifying patterns to fit, and while math doesn’t scare me off, I realize it sends pangs of fear through some creative types. Don’t worry, Stefanie holds your hand through the whole thing.

I definitely found this class worthwhile. And because it doesn’t focus on finishing a particular project (although it does have two examples it walks you through), it was well-suited to watching whenever I had the time. I could sneak in a lesson while washing the dishes, and I didn’t have to worry that I hadn’t yet knit the yoke from the previous lesson (for example).

So, would you like to take Knit Lab: Fit Your Knits as well? The generous folks at Craftsy are giving you the chance to take it for 50% off, if you follow this link to the class (or any of the others in this post).

Enjoy!

(By the way, the usual disclaimers apply re: affiliate links and the free class I got as compensation for my honest review.)