Broad shoulder adjustment for sweater

Hi everyone,

I’m currently knitting the Staran sweater by Alice Starmore. The issue that I have is that I need the body measurements of size 1 (up to the armhole bind off) but size 4 for the shoulder portion. I have broad shoulders - after the armhole bind off I would need 90 sts (40 cm across) to fit my shoulders but the pattern for size 1 decreases to 79 sts.

Does anyone have suggestions on how to deal with this? Do I start knitting size 1, then increase stitches over a few rows leading up to the armhole bind off and continue with size 4? I’m concerned that this might make the sweater too large in the bust area.

Or do I knit size 1 all the way through but not bind off as many stitches at the armhole and change the armscye curve and adjust the sleeve accordingly? This will result in very few bind offs and change the shape of the armscye quite a bit.

This is really stumping me so any suggestions or resources on how to do this would be much appreciated.

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https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/staran

Alice Starmore sweaters are gorgeous and a challenge.
It sounds like you can start with size 1 and increase by fiddling with the armscye. Not working as many decreases there and on the sleeve caps may give you enough room at the shoulder.
I’ve not played around with this app but it might help. It’s called Bellish.

There are also the Ann Budd books like “The Knitter’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns” which go through several designs in different sizes and may offer some helpful hints. My library carries it and perhaps yours does too.

You’re redesigning a sweater and figuring out all the problems of fit that the original designer had to face. It’ll be worth the effort I’m sure. Good luck with it!

Thank you for your help, I’ll look into the resources you mentioned.

Sometimes if you look at sewing pattern alterations it can help with ideas for knitting. Even though it doesn’t exactly translate, seeing the shapes of the pieces before and after can help.

This is a set-in sleeve design, I think? So have a look for “broad shoulder alteration set in sleeve”.

I believe the body measurements in sewing called “cross chest” and “cross back” will be useful. (Sounds like you may have already done these.)

If you don’t find a good tutorial, I can have a look in my Reader’s Digest sewing book over the weekend.

Yes it’s a set in sleeve. I’ve done this adjustment in sewing many times - the shoulder seam is extended without altering the curve of the armhole. But I’m confused how to do this in knitting since it would mean decreasing for the armhole and then increasing for the shoulder again. I thought there must be a different way to do this.

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Sometimes I’ve found that it helps to draw this out on paper, even as a life size pattern. Then you can try different ways of shaping and seaming the body and armholes. I have seen sweaters that have a small bit of increases toward the shoulder after decreases for the armhole.
It seems like you might do both, fewer decreases at the underarm and some increases farther up the shoulder.

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I think you can decrease and then increase to try to get a similar curve to the sewing alteration. Or add width with increases spaced across the “bodice” area, rather than concentrating them at the top of the armscye curve.

But I don’t know whether either of these can work with the stitch pattern of this design. I don’t know. Can you increase in the diagonal “filler” design without throwing it off?

The shoulder seams in knitting and the whole “cross back” area of the knitting (shoulder seam, back neck, other shoulder seam) tend to stretch when the weight of the sleeves is added. I’ve tried on a project at the “vest” stage, and the armscye was sitting perfectly. Then after the sleeves were added, it was pulled down off my shoulders. Maybe this will work in your favour?

Could you compromise a bit on the torso size so that you need to make a less exteme adjustment between the torso and the shoulder sizing?

P.S. I’ve pondered this question in reverse – how to get ease in the body and set-in armscyes that sit in the right place. The best I could come up with was shoulder darts, which are great in sewing, but I’m not sure about how that would work in knitting.

As usual, I think Salmonmac has the best idea: using graph paper or making a mock-up.

I thought of “biting in” more at that first armscye bind-off, but then I’d have to match that on the sleeve, making it get narrow too soon. Gave up at that point!