How to figure out raglan depth

I am a slender person with broad shoulders who doesn’t like a lot of positive ease. I find that if I knit a sweater with the correct amount of ease that I want, the sleeves feel like they’re in my armpit (I think because where the underarm begins is literally in my armpit rather than on the side of my torso centimeters below my armpit, as it should be).

For raglan sweaters, is the fix to knit more increases and more rows, and then when I separate for sleeves do the stitch decreases I need to get the ease I want? Or do I not need to do more increases but just more rows?

Right now I’m knitting the Arctic Light Sweater by Veronika Lindberg and the finished garment measurements don’t include raglan depth, so I’m trying to figure out if I should knit a size small until I separate for sleeves and then do decreases till I’m at the stitch count for xs sweater

The pattern photos look like the armhole is not deep enough and would bind so if you typically want a longer than average armhole depth, you’d never want to wear that for sure. I think your solution will be more rows to achieve the number of increases given, more work even rounds between increase rounds. If you know the depth you want and your row gauge you can calculate how often to work your increases to achieve the fit you want. If you have a garment that fits as you want this to then you can measure the depth on it.

Suzanne Bryan has done videos addressing how make a sweater that fits you. If you check out her videos on ITAG sweaters you could probably find where she covers raglan depth and how to make it work for you. I believe she covers a top down sweater from choosing your yarn and stitch patterns to the final blocking, and you make your own pattern if you follow it all. I’ve picked useful things from her videos but haven’t worked through them start to finish.

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I hope this helps - this is some general info about how to change raglan line length (and hence armscye depth).

You can calculate how long the raglan line will be according to the pattern, and then see whether this will fit you and adjust if needed. A little triangle maths will be required, or just measure it on a raglan that you already like the fit of or your body.

If you have a raglan that is close to what you want, use that as a jumping off point to decide what measurement you would like. Turn the garment inside out, put it on, and pinch and pin out the excess. Then measure what the measurement should be.

This article shows how to approximate armscye depth on a raglan:

To know how long the raglan line will be, count how many rows it takes to work it. Then use your row gauge to see how long it will be if you follow the pattern. If too short, space out the decreases over the desired length.

This book goes into some detail on raglans:
Maggie Righetti in “Sweater Design in Plain English”

It’s a good one to add to your knitting bookshelf and I believe can be purchased second hand at a reasonable price.

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