sweater

A little more on necklines – perfecting fit for a garment you will love.

/ Whitney / Leave a comment

I visited a friend a few weeks back and she was telling me she was wearing her favorite sweater. It was lovely, soft and had a very attractive motif. But I could not help but notice that the neck line was extended and wide. This was not really a design decision by more likely a function of the math used to fit the featured knitting motif onto the sweater. It got me… the fit of the neck distracted me from the entire overview of the garment. I honestly could not tell you what it looked like now, other than the neck line seemed ill designed.

It’s lead me on a goose chase of sorts, and I have experimented with a few cast on projects on ways to modify for a good solid fit that will prevent your sweaters from sagging, growing, exposing too much skin and so on. Resource I have found is here: https://onewilddesigns.com/blogs/articles/add-neck-shaping-to-your-raglan-with-short-rows

This One Wild Design article is directly speaking to the issues we see with neck line fit when there is a lack of shaping in raglan sweaters. Upon review the primary take away is that short rows are the answer. Short rows are used to shape the neck of the sweater. Many designers refer to this is raising the back of the neck. Which is one way to look at the problem but might not be the most accurate description of the “building” of fabric that is actually going on. In Yokes, short rows are more accurately shaping the neck placement in the garment. When you pick up a sweater at the shoulders or even lay it flat, it is most comfortable when the neck of the garment has some drop forward. This is in line with the way our necks extend from our body in a frontward orientation and not drawn straight up out of our shoulders. We have curves and shapes to accommodate for. And while this article and accompanying worksheet is dealing with raglan patterns it provides great markers to look for in your next top down circular yoke pattern as well. How many short rows were put into the garments upper back? How does that relate to the row gauge? How much drop can you expect? Also, do the short rows extend far enough forward for your taste? Looking at all this information in relation to your shoulder shape will give you some great tools to modify your next garment for the best possible fit.

What if your sweater is already finished and you don’t like the neckline? Did you know you can cut it off? If you have available yarn, and even if the garment was knit from the top down, it would be perfectly fine to run a circular needle into the fabric below the neck band. Once all the stitches are secure use some share scissors to cut above the picked up row, and pull out the rows above.

Establish where the center back of the garment is and work short rows that extend a minimum of 60% around the sweater leaving the unworked 40% ( or your desired percentage of neck stitches) unworked any the center front. Work short rows for the desired amount of drop you would like.

With a little review of the pattern and checking your stitch count for accuracy you will be able to determine if you need to work some decreases ( which would have been written as increases from the top down)

IE : cast on 100sts, work 5 rounds in k1p1 ribs. Next round k2 yo around.

If you picked up after that increase round in order to change the neck of your sweater, you will need to decrease back down to 100 sts. At this point try on your sweater and see if you are happy with the fit leaving your knitting needle in place. It would not be wrong to decrease further if you want a higher neckline, keeping whatever neck band finishing you have in mind as part of the equation.

once to you like the neck, work your band and bind off keeping elasticity in mind. A bind off is often firmer than a cast on and can help add structure to your neckline as

So there you go! Now you have a rough notion on how to modify a neckline, an idea of how I would change a neckline if I wanted a different shape and a new resource to get you thinking on fit. I hope you will comment below and continue this discussion on necklines and fit! I would love to hear your thoughts and favorite resources.

When modifying sweaters…in consideration of slow fashion and timeless wardrobes.

/ Whitney / Leave a comment

I have been cleaning out my closet this month. Little by little over the last three years I have honed my “collection” down to pieces that I actually wear and have eliminated quite a bit by using up some of my fast fashion ( read Target) clothing that just was never intended to last for years and years. Other more functional and necessary pieces have been handed down to children, passed on to charity or donated to the local chapter of DAV or Goodwill. It’s nice to have room and also not to be compelled to fill it up with “stuff.”

The article of clothing that I do add to my closet regularly is sweaters. Hand Knit sweaters that I design either make it into my regular rotation after being published, they go out on a “museum loan” to shops so that knitters can see them in real life. Some pieces join the ranks of my designated Trunk Show Samples. These pieces are available to loan to knit shops or groups.

I was reflecting back on what makes some pieces the ones that I wear and some pieces for display. First line of deciding whether a piece will be worn or shown is how many have been knit. I always have to have a good example to share at events. Most of the time it is whether or not the pieces has some sort of additional modification made. Here are some of my favorite low risk, high return sweater modifications:

Contrast cast on and bind off: It is just too easy to use a contrast color either from your stash or from the design of the sweater to make a little change to your collar, cuffs and hem. Keep in mind that changing color on a round with purl stitches will give you a little different accent from the two colors blending when the head of the purl stitch from the previous row leans forward in your work.

Stripes: Wides stripes, skinny stripes, alternating stripes or the old two stripe athletic sock treatment can dress up your favorite shape and give you a completely different feel.

Ribbing: 1×1, 2×2, 1×2, 3×2 – adding a right twist every few rows or ever a few YO, K2tog to a 3×2 rib can give you an interesting detail. A little math check to see what combination of stitches your desired area is devisable by will make all the difference and lead you to a safe and fun change. Adding twist will decrease elasticity in your fabric.

Don’t forget you can easily make 1×1 a broken rib ( k1, p1 on round one, K all on round 2) This is usually as stretchy and 

Changing neck line: easily to raise a neckline.  Cast on a smaller size to bring the neckline up from wider and jewel neck to a more standard crew.  Some of my favorite colorwork sweaters end up with a neck line is too large purely based on the math needed to make the colorwork design develop cleanly.  One of my biggest cheats is to cast on a smaller size, work several additional rows ( and inch or so in depth)  and then increase.  Another method is to cast on with a smaller needled, using a firmer method: long tail or cable cast on fight the shoulder slump really well.  And one last tip is to work you neckline finishing last.  Cast on the same amount, just skip any ribbing or neck treatment.  Then once the garment is finished or before you add any button bands, go back and pick up the stitches and work your neck treatment or collar ribbing up.  This gives you two more stable rows: the picked up stitches are now more firm because there is extra yarn used to pick up the stitches from the cast on and your bind off is very likely more firm than your cast on. If you have trouble here with bind offs. Consider using a smaller needle to bind off with, or bind off knitwise as apposed to in pattern.

Last for this installment, but certainly not least is the sweater reverse… not Chris Cross style… but truly inside out. Why not consider your next favorite sweater in reverse stockinette?  It’s as easy as where you weave in those ends! In some cases a little planning ahead and some cool welts could give you a solid statement towards inside out garments.  This is absolutely a time to apply your neck bands last as picking them up will give you a seam you want to show, or perhaps a seam you want to hind.  Make those decisions carefully. It’s the difference between handmade/ bespoke and home-made.