Wednesday, May 31, 2017

What are you really seeing?

One of the best things about talking to other knitters is what I learn from it. 


I had an email from a knitter who wanted to know what size did I knit for myself in this pattern? The answer is both photos are of the same garment. The bust measurement is the same on me as it is on my mannequin. But that is probably the only place we match up. She has a smaller waist and very small hips, but her arm is a full inch and a half bigger than mine. That was quite a surprise when I first started doing photos on her. Fortunately I can remove the arms when I need to.  

The yarn used is a silk and wool blend. The fabric tends to fall against the body underneath it. But even so the sleeves are much looser on me than they are on the mannequin.  After a back and forth email conversation I think I get it now. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words, but this is reminding me that size and shape really do matter. The garment doesn't stand on it's own, the body underneath changes the way we perceive it, in subtle ways we are often unaware of. The knitter asking the question assumed it was a different garment because it looks so different in the two photos. She felt my size and shape is more similar to hers so she wanted to check which one to knit. The real answer here is to look at the finished measurements and the schematic and compare to your own before picking a size to knit. I know visuals are powerful but they are extremely limited in the information they provide in some very critical ways. It's very important to check the numbers and not just the photo.

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