Are you ready for clue 2 of the Galanta knit-along?
Don't worry if you aren't there yet. We want you to enjoy your knitting at your own pace, but for those of you who are ready, let's dive straight in:
For this part of the knit-along, we are moving on to the upper body of our sweater.
I'm often unsure how to name this section.
If it was circular, you'd call it a 'yoke' but for set-in sleeves, that doesn't sound exactly right. So I've settled on 'upper body'!
Phase 1 - Division
You start by dividing the front and the back of the sweater.
As always, I opt to join a new skein of yarn, so the yarn is there waiting for you when you are ready to move onto the second side.
However, if it annoys you to have extra yarn just hanging there, you can skip that step and just join the yarn when you come back to work the front! (You won't forget to start on the wrong side of the sweater, right?)
We will now work just on the back of the sweater.
Phase 2: Sweater Back
First, we shape the armholes and then, when that is complete, we will add a small section of the faux cable pattern to the right shoulder.
Finally, we finish with short rows to shape the shoulder slope.
Phase 3: Sweater Front
When the back is finished, we will return to the front stitches.
We immediately divide them in two and begin working on the v-neck shaping at the same time as the armhole shaping. Then we finish off with a little faux cable on each shoulder.
When the Front is also complete, we'll turn inside out and use our three-needle bind off to create the perfect shoulder join.
General Modifications
If you don’t like have extra skeins of yarn attached, you can omit the addition of the second skein of yarn when you divide at the underarm. Just make sure you begin on a wrong side when you return to work on the front!
The faux cable positioning on the back of the sweater can very easily be modified.
I liked how it looked as just a small detail on one shoulder but you could add it to both shoulders, or even all the way across. Just remember to add extra stitches for the pattern and decrease them when you are done.
Neckline Modifications
If you do not want your v-neck to be as deep as written in the pattern, you can move the start of the v-neck further up the front. Alternatively, you can work a wider neck ribbing in your finishing.
This is easier to do on larger sizes as you will have more rows to still work the correct number of neck decreases. For the smaller sizes, you can only move it by a couple of rows.
Armhole Modifications
If you want to change the depth of your armhole, you can just work your upper body for a little longer or shorter. Again, be careful shortening it as you may have a shortage of rows on smaller sizes for working the neck decreases.
If you add length and you are working the full sleeve sweater version, you may need to follow the sleeve directions for a larger size as you will have a larger armhole.
Are you planning any mods in clue 2 of the Galanta sweater or vest?
Don't forget to pop into Knithub to chat about this clue and any modifications you're undertaking.
Just finding out about our Galanta KAL now?
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