WTF?! No eases?!

I don’t use “eases” in my patterns, since I think it’s unnecessary. It’s just like with retail clothes; I think it’s up to the customer to make the decision about how loose or fitted they want the garment to be. If size M is too loose and the customer wants it to be more “hugging”, they’ll choose smaller size, size S. And again if size M is too tight for their taste, they’ll go for one size bigger, size L. – Or this is how it should be! Never choose a garment by the number on the size tag! Do it by the fit! – This is why my patterns have only the chest circumference of the finished garment mentioned: so that he knitters have themselves the option to choose what kind of ease is for their own taste. And since my patterns aren’t necessary made for any particular yarn, the ease depends also a lot on what kind of yarn is used to the garment: cotton doesn’t usually stretch as much as wool for example.

Lets’ take for example my Elly cardigan. I’ve knitted two different sizes: one for myself and one for my mum. For myself I made it in size S, with finished chest circumference of 80 cm -> my real chest circumference is about 78 cm, so the cardigan isn’t that tight on me. Especially since I’ve knitted it in wool blend that is really stretchy: I can stretch the cardigan up to 100 cm round the chest! But that is already way too tight. For my taste, that is. My mums’cardigan I made in size XXL, with the finished chest circumference of 118 cm -> if I remember right, mums’ chest circumference was the same… or maybe 117 cm, but almost the same anyway and it still isn’t too tight because of the quite stretchy yarn in wool blend. If I had graded the pattern for one bigger size, it would have been way too loose on my mum since it was meant to be a fitted cardigan.

I personally don’t like patterns with all kinds of eases. I only need the finished measurements of the garment and can calculate for myself how much ease I need to have for it looking good on me.