Knitting Plus: Mastering Fit + Plus-Size Style + 15 Projects [Paperback]

Lisa Shroyer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2011

Design + knit sweaters that fit + flatter

Knitting Plus is the must-have manual for plus-sized sweater construction and knitwear design. With this helpful guide, you’ll learn how to design wearable, tailor-made sweaters.

With Knitting Plus, you’ll explore basic pullover and cardigan sweater construction styles from raglans and set-in sleeves to drop shoulders, seamless yokes, and dolmans. Knitting Plus explains each specific sweater element and then offers key tips for plus-sized knitting. Included throughout are simple versions of each construction type as easy-to-reference templates so you can quickly adapt and alter each sweater for a custom fit.

An invaluable reference about fit and shape, Knitting Plus includes 18 irresistible designs by a variety of designers including Mandy Moore, Lisa R. Myers, Lou Schiela, Katya Wilsher, and Kathy Zimmerman, as well as Lisa’s designs. Each pattern offers a broad range of sizes and instructions for bust sizes from about 44 to 56 inches. Packed with design information and ready-to- knit patterns, Knitting Plus is your go-to technique and design reference for customizing patterns to fit all sizes.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Every plus-size woman has probably looked at an array of knitting books and wished the patterns could be converted for someone of her size. Well, the patterns in this book are so attractive that the plus-size ladies’ skinnier sisters might wish for the same thing. With clear instructions and crisp color photographs showing the sweaters from different angles, this volume will fill a need on many knitting shelves." - Booklist

"It’s refreshing to find a book which not only addresses plus-sized designs (there are others, but not many), but which also deals with the extra information you need to consider to fit a plus-sized sweater." – Knitting Scholar

"Now we're talking, Interweave. Bring on the designs for the big girls!" – Knitting at Large blog

"It’s fantastic" – I Knit London

"This book features excellent writing, solid information, and great-looking projects." - Knit n' Style

"This fantastic offering belongs on your bookshelf right next to the Big Girl Knits books and the Curvy Knits ones, too." - Knitting at Large blog

"I’ll start by talking about the patterns in this book, since that’s what so many plus sized knitters are looking for. They are good, wearable, and just enough of traditional basics to appeal to a wide variety of knitters and shapes of plus sizes - you will absolutely find something you will wear and look good in." – Knitty.com

"This is the collection that style-conscious plus-size knitters have been waiting for—beautiful patterns plus essential information on fit." – Library Journal

About the Author

Lisa Shroyer is the editor of Knitscene magazine. She has also worked as the patterns editor for Interweave Knits and Knitscene magazines since 2005, where she has witnessed thousands of knitting patterns and all possible permutations of sweater construction. A life-long knitter, she has combined her expertise and her eye for design with a passion for knitting for plus sizes in Knitting Plus, her first book. She lives in North Carolina.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Interweave Press (March 1, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159668237X
• ISBN-13: 978-1596682375
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.6 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #313,970 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lisa Shroyer is a magazine editor and book author. After receiving a BA in English from the University of Mary Washington in 2004, she embarked on a career in publishing. Her expertise in knitting has driven her success in how-to publishing, while her eye for design is exercised on the pages of Knitscene, the magazine she currently edits for Interweave Press. She lives in North Carolina.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great info about fitting plus-sized knitwear June 19, 2011

By D. Boyken

Format:Paperback

To me, the best part of this book is the information on how to fit a sweater, primarily for a plus-sized garment. There are plenty of books that explain how to calculate fit, but they tend to focus on model-sized people and don't necessarily describe how to camouflage problem areas, or how to deal with curves in the wrong places. Here, the author begins with a chapter which addresses just those kind of fit problems, but she doesn't stop with the advice there.

The book is divided into chapters based on specific sweater shapes-raglan, drop-shoulder, and so on. In each chapter you will not only find sweaters that fit the theme, but tips on WHY and HOW they fit the wearer.

Further, each design comes with tips you need to know if you want to make changes. For example, "The front neck shaping is tied to the position of the underarms, so you need to consider neck depth when changing the beginning of the armholes." "This cardigan is worked without body shaping but because the side sections are worked in a fairly simple rib pattern, you could easily incorporate body shaping into the pattern."

It's refreshing to find a book which not only addresses plus-sized designs (there are others, but not many), but which also deals with the extra information you need to consider to fit a plus-sized sweater. I wouldn't go so far as to call this a "design" book, but there is some very useful design information in that first chapter.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Love the designs April 6, 2011

By C. Bowman

Format:Paperback

This book has many beautiful designs for the plus size gal. I am working on one right now. I did have to have copies made of the pages so I could "put them together" along side the charts etc. I also color coded them to make the whole process easier to follow. I still rate it as one of my favorite knitting books on plus size carigans/sweaters.

39 of 49 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Info and pattern pretty good; page layout a mess March 14, 2011

By MKB

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Am working on the Waltham Cabled Cardigan from this book in a knit-along. While I'm enjoying the pattern, I'm appalled at the page layout of the pattern itself. The stitch instructions are TWO pages before the cable charts, which are haphazardly split to say the least! That's like placing figures captions TWO pages before the figure. A HUGE no-no in page makeup. Did any knitters actually follow this layout before it printed? As someone who has working in book publishing for 25 years, I'm disgusted with the page makeup.

Additionally, while this book is full of all sorts of sizing information that's tremendously informative, it falls short of being tremendously useful. The content itself is constructively organized for the most part, but there is definitely information missing. Why is there no fill-in-the blank schematic page for measurements?

Also, the use of color in the patterns is very poor/non-existent. Take p.50 in the Waltham Cabled Cardigan. Why weren't the cable patterns color-coded along with the stitch instructions? The book is 4C throughout. Even if the book was spot colored in sections, p.50 has an ill-placed image, so the page is clearly 4C at the very least!

This book is the classic case of production failing to properly display and package the content. The editors should know better! What should have been a great book is a mediocre presentation at best. You'll find yourself having to photocopy the pages, reassemble the instructions and color code and highlight to follow patterns. Nuts! The patterns are quite good, but the layout should be reworked to make it more usable for the actual knitter. Shame on you Interweave production!