The Susan Shell - how this knitting pattern came to be

What happens when Ginni's daughter-in-law, Susan, emails her with a photo and says, "I want to knit something like this" 

The Susan Shell happens, of course.  

Designing a one off pattern for someone is really not that hard. I mean it is, but it isn't.  You know the measurements, and you know the gauge--the rest is really just experience and applied math. 

Within a couple of days, Ginni had the pattern designed and sent it off to Susan who knit the shell and loved it.  Ginni knit the shell too--kind of a self-test knit. 

But then a funny thing happened.  The shell was on a mannequin in the shop, with no particular fanfare, and pretty soon everyone wanted to know.

"Is that a PetiteKnit?"

"Oooh, I love that pattern--where is it? "

 "That top is exactly what I've been looking for"

"What's the name of that pattern?"

Of course it had to be the Susan Shell, and it had to be an official pattern, which meant that Ginni now had to extrapolate the pattern to a full complement of sizes to fit busts from 28" to 60" 

I'll tell you right now that designing a sweater for yourself or someone else is an entirely different process than designing a sweater to fit a whole host of other someones.  But as many of you know, Ginni is the technical genius in the Crazy for Ewe family, and pretty soon she had spreadsheets and sketches and numbers, oh my.  

I absolutely love the features and fit of this thing because I believe it gets at the heart of good fit in a way that other patterns do not. We're using it for our first project in Club Crazy for Ewe, and I'm super pleased at how few adjustments need to be made. I think that's a really good sign.  

I also love how Ginni's numbers give the correct repeats for elegant seaming - without having to adjust anything.  

Early in my knitting life, I learned the most about knitting by working from really well-written patterns that were designed to keep you out of trouble.  This is that kind of pattern.  

So, if you're looking for a relatively quick summer knit - and maybe want to take advantage of the last week of our Anniversary sale, Get the pattern, choose your favorite color of Illimani Sabri II or Softyak DK, and get started on your own Susan Tank.