I try to weave in 3-4 times in one direction and 3 times in the reverse. I’m not doing duplicate stitch but following the yarn path up 2 rows and around the loop of a stitch.
The snowflakes are looking beautiful!
Shape neck and shoulder
That looks very good, nice and neat. I’d say plenty of weaving in.
Are you using wool yarn for this sweater?
Great I’m going to snip them then!
I’m actually using acrylic yarn (I know people hate it but it’s all I could afford!)
That’s the front so far!
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Excellent snowfall! I was only asking about yarn because wool ends will felt slightly and secure themselves. Acrylic works very nicely however gland is practical for children’s sweaters. Leave a small end when you snip the tails (about 1/4 inch) so that the ends don’t poke through to the front.
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Magnificent!
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Thank you guys!!
Yes I’ve left a small bit.
Now when my instructions say join right shoulder is that the shoulder looking at it or when wearing it? And same with knit up stitches down left side of neck would that be left side when wearing it but right when looking at it?
Left and right is as you would wear the sweater.
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Okay brilliant thank you!
Look guys!! It’s all coming together!! The weaving in is a bit messy but hey it’s on the inside who cares 
Just got to add snowflakes to the sleeves and then weave their ends in then seam it all together and do neck!
I’m honestly so so happy!!
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Inside looks terrific and the outside? Just about the perfect snow scene. You’ve done a wonderful job all around!
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So I have successfully connected the right shoulder! I forgot about not pulling too tight so have got a dip in my work but I’m not too fussed about it for my first jumper. I also believe my stitches may not fully line up as may have gone in the wrong one at the start but I don’t think you can tell unless you really look.
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It’s fine. My first sweater was probably not totally in line either and no one ever noticed, we can get hung up on detail with hand knitting but if you start looking at shop bought knitwear you’ll probably see a lot of misaligned bits which we usually just accept as normal.
That said, if you have not woven in the ends then this is simple to pull out and re seam. The mattress stitch strand will pull from one end and just come out, no need to go digging around in the seam looking for the strand.
I often leave the very edge stitch at the beginning and come back to it at the end, I find I can align my seam more easily that way and I aim to go under the place where two V stitches have their legs coming together VV the centre /\ which can be tricky to see on the first stitch.
Whether made loose like a graft or pulled together it will look good.
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So I’m onto the neck band and am 3cm away from reaching the required 5cm for my ribbing before casting off. However, I’m wanting to get information ahead of finishing about how to join the neck border. My instruction is join left shoulder seam and neck border. I’ve seen a video that starts on the right hand side of the left shoulder seam and does mattress stitch but then continues to join the neck border together but is this still mattress stitch? Are there any video or photo tutorials for this?
And then it asks to fold over the neck border to the WS and see in place so I’m guessing g I’m creating a folded neckline?
You’re really powering through this sweater!
Yes, that’s right, you mattress stitch the shoulder in the same way as the previous shoulder (if you reseamed the first with the looser faux graft then do this one the same) and when you get to the neck band just continue up seaming the ribbing. If you want to see videos for this look for mattress stitch on vertical seam for ribbing, here’s one
You might want to tack the seam in place, I use small lengths of yarn or embroidery thread for this, some people pin or use removable stitch markers to aligned the seam but in my first sweaters I found it more helpful to use yarn loops as I could pull them quite snug to keep it in place whereas pins move around in knitting quite a bit. Key areas are beginning, end, and the transition from shoulder to neck, tack those to keep alignment.
After pulling the seam yarn through to tighten always give a pull back outwards on the fabric so the seam is not overly tight.
On the bind off for the ribbing you want a good stretchy edge, no tightness at all. There are methods for extra stretchy bind offs or you can go up in size of the needle you use. I go up a full millimetre to bind off. If there appears to be a touch of flare it won’t matter, the ribbing will spread to accommodate the bind off and anyway it will be sewn inside which will make it all neat.
The turned neckband will be lovely, cosy and look good.
Here’s a video to help with the folded neck, the key points here are to make sure you have the columns aligned (what looks like a knit column will present as a purl column on the reverse side, this can be a bit confusing, just take your time, again tack or use markers or safety pins in a few places around the neck) and not to over tighten the seam.
In the video they sew into the first leg of the neckband bind off, you can also choose to sew into the second leg which looks nice too, but try to use one method all around, not change, for neatness.
Thank you!
Now I finished the neck today and casted off and started doing the left shoulder seam. That’s where things went wrong - I have an extra 3 stitches on the back panel compared to the front so unsure if I’ve aligned it properly. But i’ve now just watched a video and I’m wanting to do both seams again. Will i have to undo the neckband too to get back to the right shoulder seam or can I do the seam whilst the neck band is there after I’ve unweaved it?
Or is there a way to include or miss those stitches out without having to redo everything?
You can just include those sts as you seam. If you’re using mattress stitch, skip a stitch every so often on the longer edge.
Align the seam so that the neck edge is correctly lined up. An extra stitch at the armhole edge can go into the seam as the sleeve is sewn in. Then skip a stitch on the longer edge every so often as you seam the shoulder.
I’m all for starting over but I don’t think it’s necessary here.
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You may find that once you undo the mattress stitch on the shoulder, that you don’t have any extra stitches, but just made a misalignment with the seaming. Once the seam is apart have a good look at it, count the V across and see if they are the same. If not then, following salmonmac’s advice see how many to skip, I like to put a marker where I am going to skip a stitch or I end up forgetting where to do it.
If the stitch count is equal place a tack right in that transition from stockinette to rib and ensure you get that part lined up.
Another way to do this (which I preferred as a new knitter as it was all a bit easier to control for me) is to begin the seam AT the transition. Leave a very long tail, about half or a third of the yarn for later (a slip knot with a safety pin attached in this place on the seaming yarn will prevent the tail being pulled through your seam). Then work from the transition out along the shoulder, pull snug on the seam, stretch out again. Then go back to that tail at the transition, remove the safety pin and slip knot, and work the opposite way up the neck seam. This way the whole seam is one strand of yarn but done in two directions with the vital part, the transition, as the starting point which will therefore always meet up correctly (any ‘extra’ stitches go into the folded neck or into the shoulder seam).
Another tip from when I started, and most often even now. I seam with a separate strand of yarn, lots of tutorials say use the tail left from knitting but I’d rather have an extra end to weave in and have a seperate strand. The main difference this makes is that if you don’t like the seam it is super easy to see both ends of the seam strand and pull one of them, the whole seam will come undone cleanly. I find if I use the tail from the knitting I have fewer options, harder to undo, digging around in my knitting for each seamed stitch to be removed one by one.
It won’t be too bad reseaming the shoulder.
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I just had a close look at the alignment and marked it up, the columns match well initially and where it appears there are extra stitches, really they just need to snug up to the other side. You may have one or two seam stitches in the wrong place or possibly just need to finish up the seam aligning those last stitches. Knit fabric can be deceiving and one side look longer than the other until its brought under control.
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