Insert photo of screen capture: project page
I have recently been learning to alter stranded patterns to fit my curvier figure and thought it might be helpful to post what I’ve been doing to help others who want to accomplish the same thing. Marie Wallin’s gift box 3 of British Breeds yarn arrived in May, and my mother-in-law immediately started in on knitting Ottilie, which takes all 24 colors of yarn in the gift box.
This is a boxy shrug that was written one-size-fits-all. However, I was concerned this would swallow my figure, so I altered the back of the pattern. Instead of casting on with the original 162 stitches in the pattern, I knitted a gage swatch and calculated the number of stitches I needed to fit my waist dimension with just an inch or so of positive ease. I cast on 124 stitches on a size 2 instead of 3 needle and altered the pattern chart so that I was knitting half of one repeat, one panel of the pattern repeat in the middle, and then half of the repeat on the other side. In this way, I was able to keep the shrug fitted at the back waist, and then I slowly increased stitches on each size as I knitted up until I reached the stitch count of 162 by the bust. Then, switching up to the size 3 needle the pattern called for, I followed the pattern, increasing more stitches for the sleeves as written to form the kimono-style shape.
In contrast, my mother-in-law knitted the pattern exactly as written and you can see how perfectly it suits her. I do want to mention that she knitted her Ottilie in a tighter gage than I did, which may have helped her with the fit. It was really fun to see how these two different versions of the pattern both worked and suited us as individuals. My nephew, a professional photographer, took these lovely photos of us when we were on vacation on Puget Sound in the tiny town of Keyport, Washington. After knitting our Ottilie projects like fiends for several months, we were able to finish at the same time and capture this moment where we could enjoy our colorwork projects together. It was a special moment I wanted to share with you!