I’ve decided to give this sweater a name: The Yoke-u-lator Sweater. Clever, huh? Yeah, I could call it something like “The Circe” or “Caldera”, but what’s the point? What knitters remember about my patterns is they can run a program to get the pattern in their size. “Yoke-u-lator” says that.1
Earliler this week, I cast on and knit the neck band; I’ve now raised the back neck. See the bit that hangs down? That’s the part that raises the back neck!
I know, that looks backwards. But when the rest of the yoke is added and the sweater is worn, you’ll see that part shifts up, and the back neck is raised compared to the front neck. When you knit a sweater with a nicely fitted “crew neck” or “turtleneck” type opening, raising the back neck prevents the front neck from riding up and feeling like it’s choking you.2
How do you “raise” the neck? It’s done by working some short rows over the stitches of the back neck. I’m only going to explain the general idea here: The yokeulator will provide more specific directions. The general idea of short rows is you work back and forth, but turn the work before you work all the stitches on the left needle tip.
In this case, what you are going to do is first place the stitches for the back neck on the circular needle you plan to use for stockinette. Leave those for the front neck on the ribbing needle. The yoke-u-lator w ill tell you how many are required for the back neck and front neck.
Next, with the “public” or “outside” of the garment facing, and knit across the “back neck stitches” to the point labeled with the number “1″ shown in the figure to the right. Notice there are stitches between the number 1 and the edge? (There were 3 on the right tip when I stopped knitting; there may be a different number for your sweater. The yoke-u-lator will calculate the number.)
Even though there are still stitches on the right needle tip, you need to turn the work so the purl side (or inside of the garment) is facing and purl row 2. However, to avoid a hole, you work a “wrap and turn”, details are provided in the footnotes.3
Next, you purl over to the number labeled “2″; wrap and turn.4
Next work row 3: This is fiddly! Examine the figure above;y ou will knit up to point 3 in the figure. Notice point 3 is further to the right than point 1? That’s important– you will leave 1 fewer stitch on the right needle tip each time you work an odd row. This means that the last stitch you work will have been wrapped when you worked the previous row. (There were 2 stitches on my left needle tip when I turned.) Then you wrap and turn.
I bet that sounds easy enough — but I left something out. While working over to the point labeled “3″ you will increase 4 stitches evenly over the stitches you actually knit! Those increases are indicated with the red dots in the figure above. You want to sprinkle the increases about evenly — but don’t fret too much about absolutely precision. (The increases prevent the neck from jutting out unattractively. )
Row 4: Purl until 2 stitches are left on the left needle tip. (Note: the last stitch you purl when working row 4 was wrapped when you worked row 2.)
Row 5 and up: Continue to repeat rows 3 and 4– each time leaving 1 stitch less when you turn– until you have wrapped the edge stitch on a purl row and also, increasing 4 stitches evenly when working odd numbered rows.
It’s actually easy to do– but harder to describe because you need to do two things at once on those pesky odd numbered rows! When you finish, the back neck is “raised.”
After the neck is raised, find two safety pins. Hang these between the front and back neck stitches so that later on you know where the shoulders are. (This will help you when you divide for the sleeves.) Pick up the front neck stitches on the circualr needle holding the back neck stitiches, organizing so you can begin knitting rounds without breaking the yarn.
From now on you will knit all stitches working around and around and around, occasionally increasing stitches to widen the work. I’ll describe in more detail in a future article!
1. I will also spell this yokeulator and yokulator to maximize the probability that people doing google searches on this non-word have a hope of finding the thing!
2. Notice the conditions: Turtleneck or crewneck? Nicely fitted? (As opposed to wide neck– or off the shoulder.) Most my circular yoke sweaters have these type of necklines. The main reason to shape the back neck is to make the front neck drop down a bit so it doesn’r rise up and choke you. If the sweater is an off the shoulder design, or has a very wide neck opening, you can skip this step. The Yoke-u-lator is designed to actually fit the neck— not be off the shoulder.
3. To work a wrap and turn at the end of a knit row: The yarn is in back. [ Bring the yarn forward as to purl, slip the next stitch, take the yarn back as to knit. Now, turn as you would to start working another row. After turning, slip the first stitch.] (The stuff in the [ ] is the wrap and turn. The wrapped stitch is never knit– it’s slipped twice and the yarn ends up “wrapped” around it!) You are now ready to purl the next row.
4. To work a wrap and turn at the end of a purl row. The yarn is positioned in front. [ Slip the next stitch, bring the yarn back as to knit. Turn the work. Slip the stitch. Bring the yarn back as to knit.] (The stuff in the [] is the wrap and turn. ) You are now ready to knit.
Shhh…. I can’t talk about this scarf until after I describe the activities that took place during a super secret meeting of “The Diabolical Knitters” which took place Oct. 17, 2006. This activity took place at a spot referred to as “my house.”
On that dreadful Saturday, demonic knitters invaded my neighborhood; they took over my empty garage, set up tables and cooking equipment and began to concoct special brews.
While the yarn soaked, another knitter named “Mickey” arrived, carrying all sorts of equipment: A microwave oven, two crock-pots, things called kniddy-knoddies and “the contraption”. 
