The Knitting Fiend

I’m going to finish in time. Even better, it’s going to fit!

Tomorrow I need to pick up the neck stitches, which are currently held on a string. I’ll then knit a 1″ tall ribbed neck (unless I change my mind and decide this looks nice with a turtleneck. ) Then, I’ll block, and publish the calculator.

I’m going to win a medal. Whooo hooo!

Since this sweater is knit in an unusual way, I want to discuss this design a bit. I delayed a bit because, well, I really wasn’t sure how if it would work out since I’ve never seen a design quite like this. The idea just sort of came to me.

The unique feature of this design is the cable trim. You can’t see the shoulder decoration well in the full photo above, so I zoomed in. Some will remember I knit a long 11 stitch wide strip, which I shaped into a ring. When I wear the sweater, that ring will sit on my shoulder.

After knitting that ring, I picked up stitches on one edge. The stitch pick up rate was approximately roughly 6 stitches every 10 rows. I then knit 3 rows, and decreased 16 stitches evenly across the next row. I repeated these set of 6 rows until I’d reduced the number of stitches to that required for the neck. I then placed the stitches on a string.

So, why did I decrease at a rate of 16 stitches every 4 rows? When knitting stockinette, decreasing at this rate tends to result in a nice fit for most people’s shoulders. In fact, this decrease rate matches the rate for many raglans which reduce 8 stitches ever two rows. The only difference is that to create a yoke, you want to sprinkle the decreases around the shoulders instead of clustering them along the raglan seams. So, for a yoke, it’s better to decrease 16 every 4 rows, or even 24 stitches every 6 rows. That permits the knitter to create a nice circular shape.

So what did I do below the yoke? Well, I began by picking up stitches on the other edge of the cable. This time I picked up stitches a rate of approximately 8 stitches every 10 rows. That means there are more stitches picked up at the bottom of the strip– which means that from a shaping point of view, the edges of the cable act like decrease rows! Of course, I did happen to calculate to make sure the stitch difference between the top and bottom of the cables matched the number required to get a good fit in this region.

Now, having calculated, it might seem like the sweater would have to work out, right? Well, there were several things I didn’t know before actually knitting. I was pretty sure the top yoke would sit nicely above my shoulders. I was also pretty sure the cable would sit at my shoulders. But, I didn’t know whether the cable might not become distorted strangely when I picked up more stitches on one edge than the other. It it had distorted strangely, that would have blow my entire effort. I would have had to bow out just like Michelle Kwan!

Luckily, it came out well. So, I moved on to the loser yoke. Now, you probably think, “So, below the cable you increased 16 stitches every 4 rows, right?” Well, no.

It turns out that for my build (and in fact, most people’s builds) increasing at a rate of 16 stitches every 4 rows would widen too fast. Why? Because most people widen very rapidly from the neck to the edge of of their shoulders. They widen somewhat less rapidly from the shoulders to the chest.

To figure out the rate to widen the yoke, I calculated the total number of stitches I would need for the chest and sleeves. I also figured out the armhole depth I wanted. Then, I calculated the rate of increase required to increase the correct number of stitches in that depth. I ended up increasing about 20 stitches every 6 rows, and then changing to 16 stitches every 6 rows. Then, I actually knit a small region without shaping.

Turned out the calculations work. They are now coded into the calculator for this sweater, which should be available in a few days when I earn my medal.

More importantly, I can tell I’m going to love this sweater!