Amy R. Singer

This is an absolutely fabulous book -- a must-have for all plus-sized knitters out there! With the resurgence of knitting's popularity in recent years, there has been a corresponding resurgence in the publication of knitting books, much to my delight. There have been some lovely books put out, with patterns that I adore and want to knit for myself -- books that left me to gnash my teeth in frustration when I looked at the sizing information only to find that the author didn't write show more instructions beyond a size L. I am a large woman. I wear XXL clothing. My dress size is 22. I love to knit. I do not love to do the math to resize someone else's pattern. That's why I bought a pattern book instead of designing my own sweater -- to avoid the math!

Jillian Moreno and Amy R Singer feel my pain. They provide a wealth of information in the initial chapters at the beginning of the book about sizing and fashion -- those chapters are worth their weight in gold! They provide tips, hints, and advice on resizing too-small patterns for the full-figured and for the math-impaired! They tell you how to add waist-shaping to otherwise boxy and unflattering patterns and how to add short row darts to patterns that are too small in the bust (or other areas). Heck, they've even got a couple of pages of information about how to resize sock patterns to fit plus-sized feet! They also give invaluable advice on how to properly measure someone and they provide a handy-dandy, detailed chart to record your own measurements on.

The part that really got my motor running, however, was the fashion advice. They understand that not all plus-sized women look the same! For example, despite the fact that I am quite overweight, I have an hourglass figure (it's just a very ample hourglass!); my bust and hips are the same size, but my waist is several inches smaller. A shaping-free sweater sized to fit my bust will hang like a box over my waist, disguising my curves: very unflattering. Waist shaping will help fix that problem. However, I have known women who wear the same dress size I do who are shaped differently -- someone with a round, apple-like figure (all stomach) or a pear-shaped figure (all hips and butt) will need a different cut and different shaping than I do to get a flattering result.

To accommodate differently-shaped knitters, the authors created the 3Bs -- icons on the top of the page to let you know if the pattern in question is good for a big bust, a big belly, a big butt, or any combination thereof. It makes selecting a pattern that much easier. They also provide each one of the Bs with a list of fashion dos and don'ts that will help me with my knitting, yes, but also with shopping. I can now go into Lane Bryant armed with specific information about what works for my body shape and what doesn't -- what kind of neckline, what kind of sleeves, waists, hems, etc. I'll never look at clothes the same way again!

As for the patterns themselves -- well, your milage may vary. I personally love almost every single pattern included in the book. I think they're gorgeous sweaters, designed to be flattering on full-figured women, and they range from the traditional to the funky. All of them are, in my opinion, fun to look at and seem like they would be interesting to knit. There were a few patterns I disliked (there always are), but they were usually not designed for my body type anyway. And then I looked at the reviews on Amazon.com. Many of the reviewers there said they thought the patterns were ugly. I guess that just goes to show the sheer diversity of opinion out there when it come to fashion and attractiveness.

This book has patterns for just about everything -- pullovers, cardigans, coats, skirts, tank tops, tee shirts, and accessories -- they've even got a pattern for yoga pants! I personally fell in love with the chapter on tanks and tees -- I want to knit every single one of those patterns! I started off with Bombshell, one of the most flattering patterns in the entire book in my opinion. I love the square neckline, I adore the ribbing at the waist, I'm in love with the short row shaping in the bust (invisible to the naked eye, but makes such a huge difference to the fit!), and I fall into a swoon over the top-down construction -- everything about it makes me happy. I'll have to post pictures of my progress in this blog later.

One word of warning: for a book called "Big Girl Knits," the sizing did not go up as high as some may like. While I personally could fit all these patterns, they seem to go no higher than a size 24. Anyone larger than that will have to be prepared to whip out the old calculator and make their own adjustments. However, that was the only quibble I had with this book! Big Girl Knits is an essential addition to ample knitters everywhere! show less

I’d borrowed Big Girl Knits by Jillian Moreno and Amy R. Singer from the library to look over the patterns, wondering whether or not I should buy a copy for myself. What I found more interesting than the patterns, however, were the discussions about what and why to use certain materials and designs to work with the Big Girl body in all its variations. The patterns, while mostly attractive to me, are far more complicated than I want to deal with, and I appreciate the guideposts the authors show more have included to point out which patterns work best for which body shape(s). I can use the principles they have outlined to choose clothing appropriate to my body shape as well as applying them to any garment I might knit for myself. My compromise - I bought a used copy of Big Girl Knits for the information in the book that I’d like to have on hand, regardless of the patterns. show less

Most of the patterns are really scary and complex for a newish knitter like me, but the opening section about fiber theory is unbeatable. It's packed with fiber theory that is indispensable to the serious nonwool knitter. If you're allergic to wool and tired of trying to adapt patterns that call for it, check out this book!

I love that these patterns were designed with plant fibers in mind (along with some silk, but I prefer to use cotton instead). There are cables that don't weigh you down, colorwork that doesn't need to be wool and shawls that bloom without using animal fiber. The patterns are, for the most part, pretty nice (although there are one or two really crazy ones). I have already picked out yarn to make the Cables and Os cardigan, and there are a half-dozen more that I'm planning on making eventually.