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By Karen Wehrle

If you’re a knitter who’s math phobic, you have the ruined sweaters to prove it. One was the wrong size, another was the wrong fit, yet another ran out of yarn before completion. Sound familiar? What you need is a math monkey who’ll help you do the math. Or a way to make knitting math simple.

Try some knitting math “light” in the form of EPS.

EPS stands for Elizabeth’s Percentage System. This invention or “unvention” of Elizabeth Zimmerman, the mother of all knitters, helps anyone build a sweater that fits–even without a pattern! EPS gives you the series of measurements that work together in a well-proportioned raglan or drop shoulder sweater.

Is there knitting math in it?

Just enough, not too much. Can you measure across the chest of the sweater you love best and wear often? Yes? Can you knit a gauge swatch with your new yarn and needles, then measure how many stitches you get per inch? Yes?

Congratulations, you’ve done the key work.

The number of stitches you need for the chest of your sweater is the key. How do you get it? If your favorite sweater measures 42″, for instance, and your swatch has five stitches per inch, multiply 42 times 5 with your trusty calculator. You’ll find you want 210 stitches around the chest of your new sweater.

This chest number is your magic key.

Every other part of your sweater is a percentage of that key number. If you knit your sweater bottom up with ribbing, cast on 90% of your key 210 stitches. If you punch 210 times 90% or.90 into your calculator, you get 189 stitches. That’ll work for 1 by 1 ribbing, but if you want 2 by 2 ribbing, cast on either 188 or 190, whichever you please.

When you cast on for sleeves, cast on 20% or 25% of the key number depending on whether you want ribbing or not. You’ll increase the sleeve width to 35% at the upper arm.

You’re almost done, just two more measurements left.

Your neck opening width is 50% of your key measurement and the depth of your neck opening is 10%. If you knit your raglan sweater in the round, either top down or bottom up, there are no seams except little 8% slits at the underarms. When you cast off knitting, you’re pretty much done!

And this sweater will fit you just the way you like best.

Thank you, Elizabeth Zimmerman, for your EPS knitting math “light”. You’ve unleashed the knitting genius in us all, even the math challenged among us.

For knitting math help from a professional tailor who knits, visit my KnitsGoneBad blog at http://knitfitninja.com/blog/.

Article Source: Karen Wehrle — Knitting Math – Does the Fear of Knitting Math Ruin Your Sweaters?

Filed under: Knitting

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