Customize Your Knitting by Margaret Hubert

Customize Your Knitting by Margaret Hubert was what today’s sweet visit on the Yarn Thing podcast with Marly Bird was all about. But then, it’s always sweet to hear from Margaret Hubert.

Margaret says people generally associate her with crochet so to hear that she put together a knitting book for us is wonderful. In fact in the last year she’s had four books out, two of them about crochet granny squares. She laughed telling us that she was named ‘bi-stitchural’ by a young lady at a conference.

Margaret is a very busy teacher. Often she finds that her students DON’T knit or crochet for themselves, confining themselves to baby things or afghans, because they don’t like the fit of the garments they have tried to make. She says the ideas for the books came from classes where she shows that it’s not always just adding stitches. These are her most popular classes, and says ‘the books are based on the classes not the other way around’ which for us means she has compiled the discoveries the students in her classes have made. 

This book Customize Your Knitting is a complement to the book that Margaret shared with us on her last visit, Customize Your Crochet. The books are for women’s sizes 2 to 52. In both, Margaret takes four basic patterns and shows you the ways you can adjust. And the variety of suggestions is mind-boggling, as you can create a perfect fit for YOUR body shape, she shows you how to change the fastening, the neckline, add a collar, add a pocket, changing fastenings, embellishments…… Margaret uses for herself a garment that she likes the fit of when she’s wearing it and compares it with the garment she’s making. This has been a helpful suggestion she gives in her classes, and it reveals things we did not understand when just going by our measurements.

Making custom-fit garments has been such a difficult topic to finally get information on. Marly tells that when she created her Craftsy classes on this topic, it was very hard to find information to share. (Marly’s Custom Crochet and Custom Knit class links.) She agrees that having Margaret’s book would be great additions to our libraries.

Another factor that both Margaret and Marly emphasize here is checking your gauge with every project. Every yarn is different, every brand of needle, every unknowable factor can change our gauge, so it must be checked prior to starting every new project. Margaret advises not counting the end stitches on the swatch either, because the end stitches can be a bit off from turning the row.

In future she hopes to offer us the top down custom-fit ideas, but for now she’s given us a wealth of ideas. She says she is constantly is thinking of new book ideas and the publishers she’s working with have been treating her really well, her teaching schedule is now within a driving distance from her home, so we are assured to learn more from her, and see new books from her.

Here is the link to listen to Margaret on the last visit when she shared Customize Your Crochet. Also, here is the link from her January 2014 visit.

If you missed getting to hear this LIVE today, it’s still available as an archived episode where it aired originally: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/yarnthing/2016/06/30/customize-your-knitting-by-margaret-hubert or with your favorite podcast catcher like iTunes or Stitcher Radio.