"Design and Make a Sweater Completely on Your Own!

Have you ever seen the perfect sweater in a store and wished you could figure out how to make it? Have you tried (but failed) to alter the neckline of a commercial sweater pattern? With Better Sweaters you can do all this and much more! Sweater designer Mari Dembrow clearly explains the principles needed to design and draft your own patterns. Not only will you be able to to reproduce any sweater you have seen but you'll learn how to improve upon it by adapting it to your particular tastes and needs.

Better Sweaters is designed for knitters and crocheters who don't want to be slaves to commercial patterns. The author discusses materials (yarns, tools, and their characteristics), stitches (basic and border), and techniques (casting on, binding off, making buttonholes). Next are details on all the necessary steps, from planning the design, taking the measurements, and determining the gauge to drafting patterns for each part of the sweater.

For each project, Mari Dembrow gives specifications and materials, step-by-step instructions for knitting and crocheting each portion of the sweater, explanations of how she drafted the pattern, and suggested modifications. Photographs as well as diagrams of each completed project are included, which will guide you through the text."