Join raglan

I have always done top down sweaters, so joining a sleeve is something new for me. What kind of stitch do you use? Mattress? This is the most confused pattern I have ever done. It is a baby swing coat from “the third little sublime hand knit book” I wish you all could help me but I would have to write out the whole pattern. I just have to join the raglan, not the shoulder seam, then you knit the yoke across the top, but the pieces aren’t even all connected! I can’t explain it,but I am so confused. Even my lady at LYS couldn’t figure it out. So I guess I am just going to try one step at a time and see what happens, but it is very frustrating.

Ginny

What does the pattern say to do here? But yes, you can use a mattress stitch to seam the raglans together. Or, is it one where you don’t seam, but just connect all the pieces so you can knit the yoke? In that case, knit across half the body sts, knit the sleeve sts from their holder, knit the other body sts, then knit the other sleeve sts. All sts will be joined on one long circ, and you probably knit 2tog at the `seams’ to start decreasing.

a bottom up raglan is the same… it just is confusing…

right now you have 3 tubes (ok maybe the sleeves are flat, but you can imagine them sewn into tubes, and maybe its a cardigan, but again, imagine it buttoned up…)

000 (of course the middle tube is a lot bigger… but tubes)

in one row you are going to join them… but

-----/-----------/------
|___/______/_|

not quite… the /and /\ are the under arms…

you’ll put some sleeve stitches (at the under arm) on a stitch holder or waste yarn,

some body stitches (at the under arm) on stitch holder or waste yarn
and then repeat with the second sleeve

Row/Round 2 of the yoke, you’ll have 1 tube.

The beginning of round will likely be the BACK left sleeve “seam” (joint)

When you work top down, you put some stitches (a bunch) onto waste yarn(sleeve–to be knit latter) and cast on a few for underarm–(bottom up, the underarm stitches are often not cast off–but put on waste yarn and the underarm 'seam is grafted) (and repeat for the second sleeve

its really the same
[B]Top Down[/B] you have 1 big tube… (yoke)
which is divided into 3 tubes (2 sleeves, 1 body)

its just the sleeves get knit latter…

[B]Bottom up[/B], you have 3 tubes, (2 sleeves and body) that get joined into 1 big tube-Yoke (with a few on waste yarn or cast off for underarm)

think about it for a minute, re-read the directions… and wait for the light to come on… its easier than you realize!