I'm posting a link to two articles because they answer so many of the questions knitters ask about fit. Kathleen mentions that comments on her site have "led me to believe that I still hadn’t done a decent enough job in explaining the parameters of what grading is or isn’t." I've had that feeling myself when knitters complain about patterns lacking in size ranges and appropriate fit. I frequently point to retail size ranges and how they are treated separately but knitters confuse the concepts of size and proportion. These concepts are very complex. Every teacher I ever had the good fortune to work with, had years of experience with a vast number of various body types. You can read the articles here and here.
BTW http://fashion-incubator.com is a wonderful resource I've been following it since it first started publishing in 2005.
