Modifications. Let's Do It!

Ever since I cast on my first stitch I became a modifier. Mostly because I just never had a full access to yarn suggested in patterns. So I had to recalculate all the numbers anyway. And as I was doing it, a couple of changes would always slip through here and there in the original pattern. I very rarely look at the pattern as a whole. Usually my attention is caught by different details that I fall in love with and only then my mind starts examining the pattern itself. There is always something that I want to change, and it’s not because the patterns are bad, on the contrary – I am inspired by all the beautiful designs coming up on Ravelry and in my favorite knitting magazines. But it’s really hard to find a design that has it all – the garment style, the stitch pattern, the yarn, the silhouette shaping, the fit etc. And if I want to spend all these hours knitting a garment, I want to get something that I would actually love to wear.I decided that I want to start Modification Series, where I am going to walk you through the process of all the modifications that I am doing in different patterns. Some modifications are very minor where I just change the color scheme, some are more profound, like changing the length, stitch pattern or the garment style.

Here are the examples of the modifications that I have done in some of my previous projects.

Off-shoulder Tank Top from Vogue Knitting.

My version. The yellow top turned into a marine style top. Just a simple change of color can make a drastic difference.

Long time ago I saw a crochet jacket. I didn't like the jacket, but fell in love with the stitch. The only thing that was left from the original pattern is the crochet stitch that was first turned into a top...

...then I modified my own "pattern" and turned it into a boat-neck pullover...

... and then it also got modified and turned into a v-neck tunic.

As you can see sometimes you can just take one small detail from the original pattern and make something absolutely unique.

The knitters say – one repeated mistake can become a new stitch pattern.

When I couldn't figure out the pattern of the edge of this beautiful shawl...

... I just went with the flow and got a pretty decent edging.

In this case I also fell in love with the stitch, not with the pattern. Just because I know this garment style won’t look good on me.

So I ventured into modifications and couldn't be happier with the result.

Just modifying the "background" stitch pattern and the edging can a give a sweater a new look.

At the moment I am working on a cable project and planning a lot of modifications. While I am knitting it, I am going to post step-by-step process of all the mods that are being done. I hope it will inspire you to look at different patterns with a new perspective and cast on something that you would never think of before!

 Mods are always fun. Let's do it!