Sweater Season: Schematics

Okay, we admit it: we're both die-hard sweater knitters, and we think pretty much any time of the year is sweater season. But, both of us have a penchant for starting new projects in this after-holiday time, as a moment to reflect and start to focus on something a little longer-term after our frenzied needles knit gifts for friends and relatives. It's still deep enough in the winter that there's plenty of time to wear the FO, and we're able to imbue it with hopes, dreams, and plans for the year ahead. As we've been working on sweaters for our upcoming Deep Winter collection, we've been thinking about some of our favorite sweater knitting tips and tricks from now, well, a lot of years and a lot of sweaters. We'll be sharing them with you over the next few weeks, in the hopes that some of them may help your first sweater projects of 2021, whether they're your first sweaters or your hundredth. See the full series here. Looking for an H+W sweater to start your year off right? Find the full set here.

What's a Schematic, and What Does it Tell You?

So, you've opened your brand-new sweater pattern, and somewhere in there, you've seen a diagram with a dizzying array of letters and/or numbers on it. Maybe it looks like a complete garment, or maybe it looks like a series of flat pieces, like something out of a sewing pattern. What is it? It's a schematic, a diagram showing the key finished measurements for each size provided for in the pattern. 

But where do those numbers come from? If you'll spare me a brief indulgence for some arithmetic, the size of a finished piece of knitting is governed by two fundamental equations. Its width will be the stitch count divided by the number of stitches per inch, and its length will be the row count divided by the number of rows per inch. 

A schematic, then, is based on a key assumption, a contract between you and the designer: the schematic shows you the finished measurements that the instructions in the pattern will produce, if any only if you knit the pattern exactly as written and got exactly the gauge stated in the pattern. If you make modifications, or if your gauge doesn't match, you won't get exactly the dimensions provided for in the schematic. In either case, you'll need to do a little bit of back-of-the-envelope math, but those fundamental equations will help you build a revised schematic for your project, taking into account your gauge and/or mods (and don't worry: we'll talk about how to make those adjustments next week).

We use schematics at two main moments in our knitting: when picking a size (and comparing it to a sample garment that fits about how we want our sweater to fit), and when blocking (where you'll typically see the phrase "block to schematic measurements" in your pattern). 

We've got a whole bunch of our favorite sweater-knitting insights to share over the next few weeks, but we'd love to hear yours! Drop us a line at info@hudsonandwestco.com or in the comments below with your favorite sweater-knitting tip.