I'm so hip.
| First matter of business: Kate over at Å Strikke made me a button! It's hanging out over there in the sidebar. Save it, use it, and visit her blog. Second matter of business: I may have (another) problem with the Jamesey. I held it up to my dad when he was here last weekend, and was surprised by how small it suddenly looked. It's been feeling normal sized in my hands, but now I'm worried that it'll be too small (worst of all sizing problems!). So I tried it on. And panicked.  The problem is in the hipular area.  (Sorry the pictures are so crummy. I took them in my bathroom in a rush, and ended up with a ton that look like this.) It's a little tight on me, and while I'm sure Brother Joe has slimmer hips than I do, I'm still a little nervous. What do you guys think? My brother is very slim and svelte, but I have no concept of male body width compared to female. The measurements he sent me indicate that this is a good width, but damn, y'all. How can something that stretches around my hips fit my little brother? Side note: Stephanie once said that she couldn't possibly be the only woman constantly surprised by her breasts. "How, after so many years of living together can I still be shocked to find them there? How I ask you, How? I'm forever putting on clothes and looking in the mirror and thinking 'Holy crap! Where did those come from!'" I feel the same way about my hips. I was thin as a sickly board for most of my teenage years, but in the past five years or so I seem to have slowly accumulated this weird heft to my hips. I'm not saying I'm overweight at all, and I like my hips -- they're great at closing doors and balancing armfuls of books. But I'm always surprised to see photos of myself and find that I don't have the figure of a 12 year old. This is a good thing, but doesn't help me figure out how this sweater will fit an 18 year old skinny guy. I realize this isn't exactly a question any of you can answer, but I wanted to post something and to push my previous post down a little. And I wanted to show off how much ribbing I knit. I have no idea how I finished an entire sweater in mistake rib last winter -- I must have been blinded by love or desperate for an MA exam distraction. |
posted by Sarah at 7:42 PM
Comments on "I'm so hip."
-
Ashley said ... (12:37 AM) :
-
Alice said ... (4:38 AM) :
-
Kate A. said ... (3:01 PM) :
-
Sarah said ... (3:16 PM) :
-
Kate A. said ... (11:14 AM) :
-
Lone Knitter said ... (11:26 AM) :
-
Sarah said ... (5:44 PM) :
-
Lone Knitter said ... (7:48 PM) :
post a commentIf you're really feeling super anxious, you can always put what you have on some waste yarn and block it to see if you can convince it to grow a little--and since it's nice and wooly, it certainly should. I'd always rather knit a squidge too small than too big!
knitty patterns should be based on this, which might help
I have only used it in terms of woman sizing, but seeing as I only really have a clue about my own body's sizes (and then, like being surprised by hips, I miscalculate!) and I found it really useful to see how the different areas of the body break up into measurements
http://www.yarnstandards.com/sizing.html
Men's hips really *are* amazingly narrow, though. It's probably going to be fine, though of course you'll feel better if you do as much checking as you can now (and it'll be a nice break from ribbing, right?).
I cracked up over your post - *my* enormous hips appeared overnight sometime in my 16th year, but for some reason, 15 years later, I'm *still* running into doorframes because I forget that they're there. How is that possible?
But then, I don't understand how men carry things without hips to rest all the weight on. Not to mention that big boobs make a handy shelf sometimes (with the right bra). :-)
I also loved your pictures - they look so much like all the ones I take! I'm convinced that the reason everybody else's knitting pictures are so much more beautiful than mine is that they all have gorgeous sunny decks or something to pose on. Somehow, a windowless bathroom just isn't the same.
Oh, and glad you like the button!
Can I really block ribbing though? I thought that when blocking garments that were only partially ribbed, one had to take great care to make sure the ribs weren't stretched (or the sweater would fall apart or the world would end -- something like that).
Thanks, Alice! That does help -- I think this will fit. I really do. So much so that I'm going to keep knitting and present him with the sweater whether I think it's a smidge too small or not.
And sorry again for the poor pictures :) I actually do have a deck, but it's the domain of the spiders from now until the first frost. I also have a nasty brown carpet (A guy in a furniture store once told me brown carpet was great because everyone liked it. NOT SO FAST, bucko.) so I really hate taking pictures that show it. Unfortunately it covers my entire floor in both rooms.
I guess I could take pictures in the front yard. I get the feeling that all knitters' neighbors think they're strange, so I really should just give in and snap some shots in the sun.
I think you only need to be really careful about not blocking ribs if their elasticity is vital to you. If they're supposed to be worn slightly stretched out (or need to be, because the thing is a bit on the small side), I would, and have, blocked the ribbing to the measurements I want. In most wools of my experience, it'll still pull in a bit, and you'd have to re-block it the same way every time you wash it for it to stay even slightly stretched out. So if, once you've finished, the ribbing still looks small to you, I say go for it and block it out just a smidge. It won't cause any harm, anyway.
Say, your brother is slim and 18? From what I remember about boys that age, they are increbibly and surprising narrow in the hip area--almost if they are inverted triangles.
I love your button! I tried to make a button once and it became clear, very quickly, that I had NO IDEA what i was doing.
How do you make sweaters so quickly???
When is you MA exam?
Thanks for the advice -- I'll wait and see how it fits him and I can block it anytime after Christmas morning.
TLK, I took my MA exam last spring and am just starting my PhD. And I started this sweater back in May, so it really isn't all that fast :)
Oh no! I didn't read carefully enough. I knew you were getting your Ph.D. I don't know what I was thinking! I'll blame it on temporary madness or forgetfulness.