Awh thank you, yes I love the pattern even if it has been a pain to knit!
It’s such a hard decision. But I have lots of the same wool luckily!
I had another thought though - does the 15” include the ribbing or not? If it doesn’t then I still have another 5 inches or so to go and then the armhole might be in a better place.
It says 15” from the beginning, so that includes the ribbing. It’s takes about 5” or so for the armhole shaping and the working straight part (to 20 1/2” for smallest size) and then the shoulder shaping for the top.
It depends what overall length you want the sweater to be. Some people suit longer but some really don’t and a longer body can make them look kind of dumpy or short in the leg when they are neither. Can you check with dad what length he’d prefer?
I’ve decided to do a few extra rows and then will begin armhole shaping. Kind of following his blue sweater.
For the sleeves I bound off in pattern. Kind of regretting that now due to seaming. So what shall I do for bind off (armhole and shoulder shaping) for the front and back?
Make sure to keep note of how many rows extra you do so the front and back match up.
For seaming, as you’re questioning the bind off in pattern (which I think often gives a nice stretch), why not just try out a bit of your sleeve seamed to a row end of your sweater, it doesn’t need to be in the armhole, seam it anywhere that has a similar edge. For stitches to rows you can borrow the side seam on your front or back piece to seam the sleeve stitch to. Use a thinner thread like embroidery thread or sewing thread, and just mattress stitch an inch or two. You can still mattress stitch into/under the purl bump legs, they are the same legs they are just hidden under the bump. The fine thread will pull out easily and won’t ruin your knitting. I do this kind of test all the time with various things.
I have nearly finished the armhole shaping and then I am told to get to a certain measurement and then start shoulder shaping. I’m just wondering where exactly does the sleeve join to the back? And does the shoulder shaping fit in to the slant on the saddle shoulder?
This sweater with its cables and color is looking fantastic!
The sleeve joins to the back along the yellow to green lines seam. The slant of the saddle will fit along the shoulder shaping on the body.
Is there a picture from the pattern, of what the completed sweater should look like? It would help us answer at least some of your questions.
You’ve almost got the pieces lined up where they will go. The points where you started decreasing on both the back and the sleeve will match and be sewn along that curve.
I don’t know if this picture will help. Your saddle shoulder is the one at lower right, and you can compare it to how other types of sleeves are constructed. It’s showing the garment front, but the sleeve will attach to the back in the same way.
Thank you!! Seeing the schematic is very helpful. The only picture I have to go off of is the following.
I think my next conundrum is wondering when I should do the shoulder shaping given the pattern says work even to 21 1/2” but I changed the length of body before doing armhole shaping. Hopefully that makes sense.
The pattern length from hem to underarm was 15” and here the pattern is to work even until 21 1/2” which means the armhole needs to be 6 1/2”. This should give an armhole that matches the sleeve even though you added some length until the body.
I hope this helps.
I always alter the length of sweaters, I find it helpful to make a simple drawing with my modified measurements on. Sometimes I draw the pattern schematic and then next to it my own size requirements. As I work out my gauge I add in the stitch and row count on my schematic. I find it really useful especially with length and armhole size modifications.
So does that mean that even though my body before armhole shaping is around 19” I would still knit to 21 1/2” before commencing shoulder shaping?
Edit - I feel I’d do 25 1/2 as that gives 6 1/2 sleeve?
Yes, that’s it. You can measure from the hem to 25 1/2 if you know you worked to 19” rather than 15”. Or, you can measure straight up from the armhole bind off row to 6 1/2” when measuring here don’t follow the curve of the armhole shaping.
So would the schematic look something like:
So measuring centrally to get 25” and then do shoulder shaping after that point?
And if I was measuring from armhole I’d do from the black horizontal line as that doesn’t include curve?
Yes, the sketch is fine. The body up to the black line can be any lenght you wish but the armhole (measured straight up from the black line to the beginning of the shoulder shaping, yellow line) should be 6 1/2 inches so that the sleeve shaping will fit nicely.
Yes something like that. You have laid it on a raglan which produces a different shape. The saddle shoulder is (in my opinion) easier to measure as its a but more square at the top. But, yes measure from the black line.
I’ve borrowed a schematic from another sweater to demonstrate a saddle shoulder drawing
Ahh very helpful thanks both of you!!
I’m honestly dreading the seaming of it all it looks so scary after watching this one video.
Assuming you did a gauge swatch, make another swatch to practice seaming. It looks harder than it really is!
Are you going to use mattress stitch? I actually really like seaming. I have always been useless at sewing but mattress stitch is perfect for me as I know exactly where the needle is supposed to go, not like sewing fabric which appears to me to be guess work (my needleork teacher dreaded lessons with me).
Mattress stitch quite easily pulls put if you don’t like the result too. When I am unsure of a seam I use embroidery thread with mattress stitch first to get everything in the right place then I can take out the embroidery thread as I sew up with the yarn.
Yes I’ll be doing mattress stitch as done that before and liked the look.
I’ve finished the back panel and left the neck stitches on a holder.
Now I’ve placed how I think the sleeves go in terms of the back panel is this right?
Looks great. Lovely.
