knitters,
i’ve discovered that while i very much like knitting, i am not very proficient at sewing and don’t much like it.
every time i try to seam the shoulders of the sweater i’m making, the seams get all pucker-y and when i get to the end of the seam, the edges don’t line up.
advice?
thanks much. photos forthcoming when sweater finally finished.
best,
historienne
Three needle bind off is the absolutely best way of connection shoulders. I always do this, even if the pattern doesn’t call for it.
If you want really nice shoulder seam, take out the bind off of the seams at the shoulders and do a 3 needle bind off. You won’t be sorry, I promise.
thanks, ingrid…
i’ll try the threeneedlemadness. the sweater in question is a cardigan…so do i just do this on the seam between the back and the front pieces? what do i do about the rest of the shoulder?
apologies if these are really silly questions–i’ve just never done this before!
best,
H.
You knit together whatever stitches are supposed to be bound off for the shoulder, as if you sewed them together. Any collar stitches are picked up the same way as you would have if you’d sewn them.
The only complication is if your shoulder had a lot of shaping to it. I often decide that I can live without the shaping, or do some short-rows to accommodate it. If you have a lot of shaping on the shoulder to have them slant down from the neck to shoulder, I’d be happy to try to explain how to do the short rows. If it’s straight across, then it’s easier than seaming, honestly.
The only real difference is that your seam will be magnificent. :teehee:
ETA–Here is a picture of a sweater whose shoulders were knit together. In fact, I just today finished this sweater and it’s drying.
Oops–here it is.