Learning about fit and ease

Setting out to more or less design my own garment appears to have been a great idea. I still haven't got past making a gauge swatch, but I learnt so much. Particulraly, I learnt why my last three sweaters are the way they are.

Let us take the absolute disaster first: the ribbon xback from knitty. I got the yarn as a gift with this specific pattern in mind. The idea was that given my bosy shape this would look cute on me. I liked the pattern and decided to giv it a go. I measured myself, saw that my bust measurement was about 34 inches, and as a resuly chose to knit it in a medium with finished bust of 35 inches. That is negative ease. With cotton ribbon yarn. When I finished the bloody thing, it was literally falling off me and I didn't know why. Ouch. Of course the darn thing got frogged and there is no way I am re-knitting again. The yarn is pretty and I will use it, but I am not sure what for.

Anyway, now I have learnt about negative and positive ease, wearing ease and design ease and I have learnt that cotton stretches. If I knit that thing again - it would be an XS, maybe a small.

The same goes for my bulky jumper and my leftovers vest. They are just a bit too big. As they are wool rather than cotton, they are a bit more forgiving. Especially the vest. And my bulky jumper is nice to wear around the house on cold days, so I decided that I am not going to frog it.

And hopefully I want be making the same mistake when I knit my next sweater...