Black Raglan: May 2005 Archives

What I hate on just about every ready to wear shirt and sweater I buy is that they ride up in the front. It's so unflattering but it's really hard to buy a top that's made for someone busty.

Since I'm making my own though, I knew I'd be putting in some short rows so I get a nice straight hem.

I've avoiding using short rows for bust shaping for no real reason. My years of pattern making training (albeit in sewing, not knitting) told me that they'd work well. But I was afraid to go to all that trouble and have to frog it back and keep tinking until I get them right.

Not any more!

I followed the instructions for the shapely tank's short rows and it worked like a charm. I did 12 short row rows, which she said is for a D cup. I'm definitely a DD*, but any more would have made the sweater curve down. I have the same gauge too so I'm not sure what's causing the discrepancy. No worries though because this sweater's edge is perfectly straight!

I wasn't sure how many rows to do so I tried it on every few rows. Once the bottom edge went straight across my body (no more upside U shape across my chest) I stopped and knitted across all the stitches, picking up the wraps as I went. The hardest part of the whole process was digging out the wraps from all the black yarn. Definitely something to do in sunlight.

I'm very pleased about the way the body is shaping up.

The neckline? I'm not so sure. It's definitely a tiny bit wide but I planned on doing an edge anyway. I'll wait until I'm done with the body to see how that turns out. There's a little nagging part of me that says I'm going to have to frog the yoke and do slower decreases on the sleeve than the body to get the properly proportioned neckline (which is what I'd do if I were to start this top again). But, I'm hopeful that I'll be able to make it fit well enough with some ribbing and a few well placed decreases to pull it in just enough.

Keep your fingers crossed for me, OK?

*I wasn't sure if I wanted to post this on the web, but some of you have emailed me asking about fitting for larger busts so I decided to share. Believe me, there's no bragging going on here. While I do certainly love my curves, it's definitely a love-hate relationship. They're heavy and make buying well-fitting clothing really difficult. But, when I find something that fits really well the curves can be fun and really sexy, too.

See, there's that love-hate thing again.

This sweater is coming together quickly!

The most challenging part thus far has been coming up with the right number of stitches to cast on. The typical raglan stitch count proportion is that the front/back stitch count should be roughly 3 times the sleeve stitch count. But that didn't work for me. I want a square neckline, but I want it lower. So I cast on almost the same number of stitches for the sleeve as for a front or back. I mapped out how many stitches I'd need when I'm at the armhole and it looked like it would work.

So, I've been knitting away hoping that this wasn't going to create baggy sleeves, and so far so good. I've taken this off the needles 3 times already just to try in on. Fit as you knit -- gotta love it.

All this on and off the needles has taken a lot of time, so this last time around I threaded through 3 circular needles (instead of threading some waste yarn). This was much easier and even helped with the curling too. I don't have to unthread them, I just knit off of the different needles for 1 round and I'm back to normal. I've also been steaming it a bit so the neck wouldn't curl either.

I'm 4 repeats away from what I thought I'd want to knit and I still think that's going to be a good stopping point. These rows are getting really long! The rows have gone from 170 to 282 stitches each.

I also gave some thought to the raglan increases. I took out Barbara Walker's Knitting from the Top and she showed 10 different increases. I finally went with Increase #4.

Knit to the seam stitch (meaning, the seam stitch is still on the left needle). Knit into the back of the seam stitch in the row below by slipping the right needle from top down into the purl bump. Then, knit into the back of the seam stitch. Slip marker. Then, with the left needle draw up the loop of the same stitch one row below (it's now actually 2 rows below since you knit the seam stitch) and knit into the back of it (so it's twisted).

It sounds more complicated than it is. It's making a nice tight raglan seam that has no holes and looks symmetrical. I love it!

Now that work has slowed down a bit I've been able to think about knitting a little more. All these projects are mulling in my brain! Last night, one seemed to pop out more than others though, and I'm starting on it this morning.

This idea is truly inspired by blog reading. If it were not for these blogs I would not have decided to make this sweater.

First, Colleen made a sweater modeled after her favorite shirt. You can read all about it here, and a pic of the inspiration T is here.

She did a great job of translating her T shirt measurements into a really well-fitting sweater. I loved the idea the moment she blogged about it. Doesn't everyone have a favorite top that they'd love to clone?

Then, Obsession du jour finished up her hourglass sweater. All I can say is WOW! It's gorgeous. The shaping and fit is perfect. It's my favorite hourglass I've seen so far.

And finally, Grumperina finished her Tivoli t-shirt. The wider neck is a lot closer to my favorite T and the short sleeves are better for a project that should be quick (since I hear it's almost summer, if only I could turn off my heat). And do I need to mention the perfect fit?

Are you following me yet?

I'm going to mimic my favorite T's shaping, inspired by the hourglass's finishing and Grumperina's short sleeves and top-down approach.

Truly a sweater from the blogs. Thanks, ladies, for some wonderful inspiration!