Every woman is a size 8

I received Sweater Design in Plain English from amazon a couple of days ago. I bought it because I heard on a podcast that it was 'full of maths' so I knew it must be the book for me. So far I've read to chapter 10 and found this interesting quote 'Every woman is a size 8' (Ruth Rohn) meaning that the actual distance between the tips of our shoulder blades doesn't vary much between women of all different shapes and sizes. I think this fact accounts for the reason that when I knit a jumper from a pattern for a 40" bust it never fits across the shoulders. It is always much too large. Now I've been designing my own patterns top down I start with the shoulder fit then worry about the bust as I move towards it and FINALLY I'm getting knitware that fits.

I wish I'd designed my own garments years ago. Getting to the end of a pattern to find it is too big is dismal!