Thoughts on shaping

So I've been mighty quiet around here lately, and it's the direct result of a pattern I'm working on (and, frankly, procrastinating working on).  The issue with it?  Shaping.  Everybody I've ever met says that it's easier to make a tailored garment in pieces, because the shaping is easier.  I question this.  It's no more difficult to make lines of increases or decreases in the round than it is flat.  What IS harder is designing shaping in the round.  My current project, I'm still working on the yoke... I have to make the armholes deep enough and the shoulders wide enough (but not too wide) at the same time, all without deforming the neckline.  Plus I want this one to be fitted.  Exciting!

Of course, when you're making something from a pattern, the designer has already figured that out for you.  What everybody else is worried about is things like waist shaping, which really isn't hard.  The key is to start your decreases two to three inches before you want the narrowest part, and decrease evenly, then increase at the same rate.  Ta-dah!  Waist shaping.  No harder in the round than in pieces, and in my opinion, better, because you can try the darn thing on as you go and make sure you decreased the right amount.

Now if only I could get to that point on this sweater.  Stupid yoke.

Everybody needs an editor

My secret sweater has just entered testing, which has gotten me to thinking about the whole design process.  In my pre-yarn life, I started as an editor of translations.  Well, before that I was a translator, but that's fairly irrelevant.  Any editor will tell you, everybody needs an editor.  I gather that a lot of folks think that's just us defending our jobs, but it's not.  See, my brain does not work the way your brain does.  What I may think is perfectly clear may be confusing to you.  I may miss that I misspelled "biology" as "boilogy" even though I reread my draft fifteen times.  And in design, this is, in large part, where pattern testers come in.  Now, testers are not and should not be expected to be tech editors or copy editors, altho they will often catch the same kind of mistakes.  But a test crocheter can tell me if my sweater actually fits a ten year old.  I don't have the time (or yarn!) to make every one of my patterns in every available size, and even if I did, I probably wouldn't have a model to test the sizes on.  I have done so many crochet yokes that they are automatic to me, so sometimes I forget to say in my pattern where, exactly, the fsc bridge should attach... and you bet testers catch crap like that!  So to all my testers, past, present, and future, a hearty thank you... I'm going to do my best to not need you any more, but boy do I appreciate your help!