All patterns are delivered automatically as digital downloads. Wide range of sizes and tutorials included.
All patterns are delivered automatically as digital downloads. Wide range of sizes and tutorials included.
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The end is in sight!
It's time to take on the final clue of the Saoirse sweater and vest knit-along and get those garments off those needles and onto your blocking mats (or beds, or towels😉)
So grab a cuppa, have a read below, and then join us over in Knithub for Clue 3 chats!
When the body is complete and you can see your final garment is in sight, it's all about finishing up. The sweater has got the sleeves left to work, and the vest has an I-cord edging worked around the edge of the armhole.
The sleeves are worked in the round from the top down with decreases worked down the length of the sleeve. The cuff finishes with garter stitch and and I-cord bind-off again like for the body.
The sweater has a garter stitch crew neck edge that is finished with an I-cord bind-off and the vest uses a cowl neck with the Icelandic bind-off. The option of interchanging both of these bind-offs is given throughout the sweater.
Most importantly, all bind-offs, body shapes and neck edging can be mixed and matches so that you get the sweater that you want just for you!
If you are working full sleeves, it can be helpful to pick up an extra stitch in the ‘gap’ at each side that you decrease on the following row. This will help prevent underarm holes.
For the vest, it is best to use the larger needle size to do the I-cord edging. This will help prevent the armhole from becoming too tight.
If you want to keep your sleeve decreases on knit rounds (rather than purl rounds), just move the decrease round forward or back a round as needed.
If you want to change the length of your sleeve or the cuff size, you can make adjustments as you knit. Make sure that you check the blocked gauge with a light steam block. Ripple stitch stretches vertically with blocking and it’s easy to get a sleeve that’s too long.
If you want a smaller cuff, be careful that you don’t begin decreasing too quickly as you may find that your upper arm gets too tight. You could also do a few extra decreases in the round before the garter cuff.
If you want a shorter sleeve, you may also want to move the sleeve decreases closer together so that you fit them all in before you reach the sleeve length that you want.
I have shown two different neck edgings: a crew garter edge and a cowl neck over in your project workshop. These are interchangeable and you can use either neck on either garment type.
Keep in mind that you want the crew neck to pull in a little, so use a smaller needle size and the I-cord bind-off to keep it snug. You will see that I've also added a few neck decreases at the back of the neck as well to help pull the neck in a little.
It is the opposite for the cowl neck. You want it to drape so you will use the larger needle size. In fact, you could even go up a needle size! The Icelandic bind-off gives more stretch at the edge, allowing the cowl to open up and feel more full.
If you are using a heavier yarn and want to ensure a drapier cowl neck, you could add a few increases in the first round so it is larger as well as using the larger needle size. The length can also be adjusted to the length that you would like.
If you have any questions or you'd like to join us for our clue 3 chat, pop over to YouTube or tap the link to catch the replay too!
Don't forget to drop into Knithub to join the chat!
Wishing you all the best for clue 3 of the KAL!
Can you believe it's time for the Saoirse knit-along clue 2 already?
In this clue, we are tackling the body of your chosen garment and there is quite a lot to cover, so let's dive right in:
When you separate the sleeves from the body, you will keep working in the round. The garter panels continue down each side of the front and back from the yoke, with the Ripple Stitch in between for the cast-on underarm stitches. For the sweater version, there is gentle waist shaping worked on each side of the front and back. For the vest version, there is no waist shaping with a slight decrease just before the garter edging.
Both versions will finish with garter stitch edging. There is an i-cord bind-off shown on the sweater and an Icelandic bind-off on the vest.
You can use either type of body shaping on the garment you are knitting. However, you will need to make one adjustment for the vest.
It's helpful to remember that the start of the round for the sweater is at the beginning of a Garter Panel on the left front, but for the vest, it is at the start of the garter panel at the back left.
The waist decreases for the sweater body as written are as follows:
Waist Dec Rnd: *Work Garter Stitch Panel, sl m, work Ripple Stitch to m, sl m, work Garter Stitch Panel, sl m, ssk, work in patt to 2 sts before m, k2tog, sl m; rep from *once more.
This will put the decrease on each side of the back and front Ripple Stitch panels. If you are working the vest with decreases, you will be following this:
Work the back garter panel, then work the first decrease, work to the end of the back ripple stitch, and work the second decrease. Then you will work to the front and work the decreases on each side of the front ripple panel.
So as you can see, the decreases will remain the same. They will just look a little different due to the difference in the location of the start of your round.
If you are working waist shaping, you will want to ensure that the narrowest point is fairly close to your natural waist. It doesn’t have to be exact, but if you have a very high or low waist, you may want to make adjustments.
To check, try your work on when you reach the fullest bust point. Then check where you want the waist to be and measure the length from the bottom of your sweater.
In the pattern there are 4 decreases worked every 9 th row.
So the length it takes is: 1 + 9x3 = 28 rows
The pattern gauge is 26 rounds = 4”/ 10 cm so this will be 28 x 4/26= 4.3” / 11 cm.
Then there are 9 ‘straight’ rows for the waist.
If you want it higher, you can move the decreases closer together and if you want it lower, you can move them further apart.
If you want to change the length of the sweater, ensure you have enough yarn!
Also, keep in mind that this ripple stitch stretches a bit vertically after blocking, so check the blocked gauge before making a final decision.
If you want to add length and not change waist shaping, you can add length after the shaping. If you are working the straight body, you won’t need to make any changes, just knit to your desired length.
For the straight body version, I’ve worked a decrease round before the garter stitch. Garter stitch tends to pull out a lot when it’s worn, so the combination of less stitches and a smaller needle will help it hold its shape a bit better.
If you have any questions or you'd like to join us for a clue 2 chat, pop over to YouTube or tap the link to catch the replay too!
Don't forget to drop into Knithub to join the chat!
And if you'd like to join us for the autumn knit-along just click here.
Wishing you all the best for clue 2 of the KAL!
The moment has arrived!
Today we cast on the Saoirse Sweater and Vest knit-along and there is a lot to cover, so let's take a look at the pattern overview before tackling this clue's modification options.
This sweater is knit from the top down with raglan shoulder shaping. Initially, you will be working flat, with increases along the neck edge. Once this is complete, the rest of the sweater is knit in the round for the sweater version.
In the vest version, you will bind off the sleeves when you reach the width of the shoulder needed for the vest. After that, the front and back of the vest and the yoke will be worked flat until you rejoin for the body.
At each raglan shoulder seam, you have a garter stitch panel; the increases are worked at each side of this panel. There is a ridged stitch pattern used for the body that is easy to work and creates a lovely textured effect. This sweater uses modified raglan shaping, changing from full raglan increases into slower increases as you progress through the yoke.
You will work through sections A-G in the sweater pattern which goes from raglan and neck shaping into different rates of shaping for different sizes. Make sure you follow the directions for the size you are knitting. All sweater stitch counts are given in the stitch count chart so you can check your work as you progress.
As this is a top-down raglan, any extra raglan rows you work in your yoke will impact the number of stitches you have for the body and the sleeve. For this reason, if you want to increase or decrease the depth of the yoke, you will want to decide if you want to include raglan, sleeve or body increases as well.
When you are changing between flat and in the round (both for the neck and for the vest) there are a few stitches at the front left that will get worked in pattern twice. This is needed so that each stitch panel is complete for each row or round, as you don’t want to start a row in the middle of a stitch pattern!
If you only want to add depth to the yoke with no changes to the stitch count then you will work plain rows without increases. Before you add length thought I'd suggest steam blocking as the Ripple Stitch pulls up a lot before it's blocked.
If you want to change the number of stitches for the body, you can add them to a plain row that previously had no increases. This will increase the stitches but won’t add depth.
It would be the same for the sleeve. If you want to add extra stitches, you can work extra increases on the sleeves at each side on a row that would otherwise have been without any increases.
The vest is worked the same as the sweater until you bind off the sleeves. After that, you will be working the front and back flat separately until you rejoin at the body. If you want a larger or smaller shoulder for the vest, you can adjust the position that you bind off the shoulders at.
If you have any questions or you'd like to join us for some clue 1 chat, pop over to YouTube on September 26th at 3.30pm (IST) or tap the link to catch the replay too!
Wishing you all the best for clue 1 of the autumn KAL!
Don't forget to drop into Knithub to join the chat!
And if you'd like to join us for the 2024 Saoirse Knit-along, just click here.
Do you have stash yarn that is calling to be a sweater?
Nods, so did I!
This summer I had a strong desire to knit myself a new sweater. I wanted to keep it simple so I could begin knitting as soon as possible - but it also reminded me- I've been here before!
This was where the idea for a summer version of my 2020 Stash Dive Sweater came from.
This was a top-down, drop-shoulder, cropped, over-sized sweater. As I knit through it, I recorded the videos and then turned it into a free Teachable workshop.
Now this seemed like an ideal starting point for my new summer sweater for 2024!
But then I thought you might like to join me in my summer project.
So our Summer Stash Dive Sweater Project was born.
This is an informal project where we can support each other as we use our stash yarns to knit a sweater. We will work through the basics of a top-down sweater, including sizing, neck shaping, working the body and sleeves, all with using your chosen yarn.
Sound like fun?
So if you have stash yarn that is calling to grow up into a sweater, then this is the project for you!
It's here!
Clue 3 of the Torc cardigan knit-along is all about those gorgeous textured sleeves and those details that give you a professional finish.
So let's dive right in:
We start clue 3 by picking up stitches from around the armhole on each side of the held saddle shoulder stitches for our sleeves.
The sleeve cap is worked using German Short Rows and the Gansey stitch pattern from the shoulder is continued down the top of the sleeve. The sleeve decreases happen at each end of the sleeve.
The front edging of Torc is worked in garter stitch, all the way around the front opening. Decreases are worked on each side of the back of the neck to shape it and prevent it from flaring out.
To finish Single Row Buttonholes are used along the front edge up to the v-neck. It is finished using an I-Cord Bind-Off.
It all sounds like a lot, but you will be casting-off and blocking your very own Torc before you know it!
There are lots of options for you to modify your Torc cardigan during clue 3. Here are some of my favourites:
I’ve used German short rows for my sleeve caps. I picked these as they are the fastest to work and give good results. If you would like to use a different type of short rows, I’d suggest trying the Wrap & Turn method.
When you use these on a sleeve cap you can avoid picking up the wraps. Leaving the wrap in place creates a ‘seamline’ effect along the edge of the picked-up stitches, which looks very attractive!
I’ve added a video for this section for a modification I’ve developed for the single-row buttonhole as part of your accompanying workshop.
Normally when you do this buttonhole style, you will bind off the bottom stitches then turn around and use a cable cast-on to join up the top of the stitches. It can be quite difficult at the start of the cable cast-on to avoid getting a ‘gap’.
In my modification, as you pull the first cable cast-on stitch through, instead of putting it straight on the needle, you work a yarnover and pull the first stitch over the yarnover. Then you put the yarnover on the needle. What this does is it adds extra yarn at the start of the cast on which will avoid the stitches getting pulled and gapping.
If you have changed the length of your cardigan during clue 2, you may need to either adjust your buttonhole spacing or add extra buttonholes.
Using removable markers to position your buttonholes before you work them can help you visualise more easily what they will look like and check you’re getting nice even spacing.
If you need to make tweaks to the width of your cardigan, the front edging can be a good place to do that. Just add or remove width as needed.
If you are adding width, you might want to move your buttonholes out a little so there isn’t too much fabric after them.
You will also work more decreases at the back of the neck as they happen every right side row.
If you have adjusted the length of your cardigan, you will need to adjust the number of stitches you pick up on each side. Just take care to keep the same number of stitches on each side.
Use a removable marker to mark the position of your v-neck so that you know where you will be ending your buttonholes.
And if you have questions about any of these modifications or any Torc KAL musings, make sure to pop by our Live Chat on YouTube 👇
If you have any questions or you'd like to join us for a Torc clue 3 chat, pop over to YouTube June 6th at 3.30pm (GMT) or tap the link to catch the replay too!
Don't forget to drop into Knithub to join the chat!
And if you'd like to join us for the 2024 Torc Knit-along just click here.
Wishing you all the best for clue 3 of the KAL!
Can you believe it? It's time for clue 2 of the Torc cardigan knit-along.
Right now you have joined the front and back of your cardigan together with underarm stitches, so it is time to begin working on the body of your cardigan.
The body of Torc is worked flat in one piece, with no side shaping.
The stripes of Gansey stitches are worked as repeats all the way across the row. There are a few extra stitches outside the pattern at the start and end of the row. These are worked as ‘ED’ stitches and are primarily in stockinette stitch with reverse stockinette stitch welts worked to match the dividing rows in the Gansey stitch pattern.
The body of your cardigan is where you can really relax into those Gansey inspired stitches. You end up working a pleasant rhythm that's great for listening to an audiobook or podcast as you work!
If you're wondering about modifying parts of the cardigan to make it unique to you here are areas where you can adapt the pattern:
If you want to increase the length of the pattern, you can work repeats of the Gansey stripes. You will want to ensure that you work a complete pattern ‘stripe’ so that it looks intentional. One of our test knitters divided one of the stitch patterns in half and added extra, smaller gansey pattern stripes.
Note: You will need to make sure that you adjust the number of stitches that you pick up around the edge for your edging at the very end if you adjust your length.
You’ve got two options if you change the stitch count:
There is no waist shaping on the cardigan as written. If you want to add waste shaping, you could omit stitch panels at each side and work increases and decreases in those stitches. I’d suggest working the stitches as ED stitches so that you keep all welt rows worked continuously.
And if you have questions on any of the above or have more of your own, don't forget to drop into the live chat for clue 2 👇
If you have any questions or you'd like to join us for a Torc clue 2 chat, pop over to YouTube May 23rd at 3.30pm (GMT) or tap the link to catch the replay too!
Don't forget to drop into Knithub to join the chat!
And if you'd like to join us for the 2024 Torc Knit-along just click here.
Wishing you all the best for clue 2 of the KAL!
The wait is over!
Today we cast on the Torc Cardigan knit-along and there is a lot to cover, from the provisional cast on at the center of the saddle to modifications and tips for clue one, so let's dive right in.
This cardigan begins at the centre of the back of the neck with a provisional cast-on for half of the right saddle stitches. These are worked to the edge of the neck, then stitches are cast on for the second half of the saddle and the rest of the right shoulder is finished. You are working decreases at each side to slope the shoulder as well.
The left shoulder is then worked in the same way. When the saddle is complete, stitches are picked up from the bottom edge, first for the back and then for each side of the front. You will work in pattern down to the armhole, working armhole shaping and also neck shaping at the front.
I’ve called out the Invisible provisional cast-on for the centre of the saddle. This has the advantage of being worked directly onto waste yarn (or a barber cord!) so it’s very fast to work the second side when you come back to it. However, if you prefer another provisional cast-on, feel free to substitute.
The Neckline has v-neck shaping, which means we are increasing at the neck edge every RS row. It will be a little confusing at the start because there is a Gansey pattern worked at the neck edge before the increase. This gives us a lovely wide Gansey pattern edging along the side of the neck, but it means that at the very start, the neck increases are starting almost where you would expect the armhole increases to be!
If you are getting a different gauge and you like the fabric that it is knitting up as you may decide to adjust the size you are knitting based on your gauge. I've done a tutorial on how to do this here. Remember if you adjust the size you knit for your gauge you will still need to work the 'lengths' for the size you want rather than the larger size!
If you have wider (or narrower) shoulders, you can adjust the width of your shoulder saddle to match your body shape. Just remember to adjust equally on each side so that the reverse stockinette stitch ‘welt’ remains at the centre of the back of the neck.
If you are making it wider, you can either space the decreases out further or just work extra rows with no decreases at the end.
If you are making the shoulders narrower, you can remove some rows between decreases to ensure you can fit the decreases in.
If you want to return to a larger bust size after working a narrower shoulder, you will need to work more armhole increases on both the back and front to ensure you get back to the same number of bust stitches. This will mean that you start them sooner so that you don’t change the depth of your armhole.
It would be the opposite if you have made the shoulders wider. You will need to do less bust increases. This will mean that you start those increases further down so that you still have the same armhole depth.
Yoke Depth Adjustments
If you want to increase or decrease the depth of your yoke, this will work best before you work your armhole increases.
If you want to make your yoke depth shorter, you may find that you need to work your neck and armhole increases at the same time, so make sure you keep track if this.
If you want to increase your yoke depth, you can keep working your Gansey pattern for longer without causing any problems.
Be very careful to make the same adjustment on both the back and on each side of the front.
If you have any questions or you'd like to join us for a Torc clue 1 chat, pop over to YouTube May 8th at 3.30pm (GMT) or tap the link to catch the replay too!
Wishing you all the best for clue 1 of the KAL.
Don't forget to drop into Knithub to join the chat!
And if you'd like to join us for the 2024 Torc Knit-along just click here.
Can you believe we are on the final clue of our mystery knit-along?
Clue 3 is all about finishing.
Most of this clue will use the contrast colour(s), with the main colour only coming into the last few rows and bind off.
This final section of the shawl works the Butterfly Stitch in only the contrast colours. If you have two contrast colours, you will change the colour every 6 rows (as shown in the chart).
If you have a single contrast colour, all rows will be worked in the single colour.
When you finish with your Butterfly stitch pattern, you will return to the main colour to work the edging and Picot Bind-Off. This combination of large yarn overs followed by the Picot Bind-off creates a nice dramatic edging for your shawl.
The Butterfly Stitch is delicate and beautiful. It uses slipped stitches over a few rows that are gathered together to create a butterfly effect.
You need to be careful with the Butterfly stitch as the first row begins on the wrong side, which can trip people up!
In addition to this, all the slipped stitches happen on the wrong side of the work. When you are slipping wyib (with yarn in back), it is the back relative to how you are holding your work. So the 'back' when you are working the WS is on the RS!
If you've got a lot of extra contrast colour left, you can just keep going with this section! Keep working the Butterfly Stitch as long as you'd like.
If you want to incorporate more of the Wave Stitch pattern into this section, remember the Wave stitch pattern is in multiples of 10 stitches. So you just need to move 10 more stitches inside your pattern marker.
I can't wait to see how you all finish your shawls and don't forget if you have any questions we are live on YouTube this Thursday and you'll find us in Teachable and Knithub!
With shawls, blocking is very important! You will want to block your shawl aggressively, stretching out the fabric so that it becomes open and drapey.
I like to use a combination of blocking wires and pins or knit blockers to pin it out when it is wet. You can find more on this with your accompanying MKAL workshops.
Don't forget we will be live over on YouTube at 3.30pm Irish Time/10.30am EST to chat through this clue and share some tips. You can subscribe here and receive a notification when we are live.
Don't forget to pop all your finished clue 3 photos into this thread for our community prize raffle!
If you're reading this, it's not too late to join us!
You can pop over here and you'll get complimentary access to all our step-by-step workshops for the MKAL as well as our exclusive community threads over on Knithub.
You can catch up with clue 1 right here and clue 2 here.
We can't wait to see all the shawls popping up online!
I hope you've enjoyed taking part in this mystery knit-along.
See you over in Knithub.
Carol
I hope you’ve all enjoyed the first clue, now it’s time to move on from the short rows into the next stage of our shawl.
In this clue, we will continue to work the biased stitch pattern, with increases on one end and a decrease at the other end. We will continue to work with the main colour in garter stitch, but now, instead of short row wedges, we will be incorporating a Wave pattern in between the garter stitch sections.
This Wave pattern is one of my favourite stitch patterns. It uses elongated stitches of different lengths to create a ‘wave’ effect. When you create these elongated stitches in a lighter-weight yarn, they become almost translucent, allowing the heavier garter stripes between the waves to dominate. This stitch pattern relies on very open stitches as well as the variation between the two weights of yarn. Because of this, the wave pattern will require blocking to open up fully!
This stitch pattern is in multiples of 10 stitches, and we will block that off with stitch markers at the start and end. The stitches at the start will continue to increase due to the yarn overs and the stitches at the end will continue to decrease. However, our pattern stitches in the middle will remain the same!
The blocks of Wave Pattern will be worked 4 times in total. If you have two contrasting colours, you will be changing between them, but if you are using a single contrast, all wave patterns will be in your chosen colour.
Note: If you’ve made your shawl wider in the first clue, you will need to adjust the number of repeats you work for the Wave Pattern.
As there are edge stitches on each end, this should be easy to do.
Don't forget if you have any questions you can join us over on YouTube Live or pop your questions into our community Knithub.
Don't forget we will be live over on YouTube at 3.30pm Irish Time/10.30am EST to chat through this clue and share some tips. You can subscribe here and receive a notification when we are live.
Don't forget to pop all your finished clue 2 photos into this thread for our community prize raffle!
If you're reading this and would like to join us for our knit-along, you can pop over here.
During the knit-along, you'll get complimentary access to all our step-by-step workshops for the MKAL as well as our exclusive community threads over on Knithub.
You can catch up on clue 1 right here.
I hope you enjoy working the Wave Pattern in clue 2 as much as I do!
Don't you just love jumping into a new project?
It's even more exciting when it's a mystery. You don't yet know what fun adventure is ahead of you!
We're starting small with clue 1 of the Grianchloch shawl, with just a few stitches. I opted to start with the Twisted German Cast-On (also known as the Old Norwegian Cast-On) as it gives a nice, attractive but stretchy edge. If you have knit a shawl before, then you know that lots of stretch is what it's all about!
This shawl is worked on the bias. This means that you have increases on one end and decreases on the other end of rows. For the shawl to grow in size, you will need more increases than decreases.
Typically, this shawl style tends to be long and skinny as you will be working a lot of rows while it increases slowly. I've tweaked this basic shape in the design just a little to allow for a little more width.
This is done by using short rows.
The short rows are worked on the end that has the increases. This means that in the short row 'section' there are only increases and no decreases. This allows the shawl to grow a little wider than would normally happen with the biased shape.
I've used German Short Rows in this shawl as it's the neatest way of working short rows in garter stitch. These will look the same on both the right and wrong side of the work, which is ideal for a shawl!
I'm never fond of changing yarns and joining in new yarn on shawls. So I will usually do my best to minimise the number of times I have to join in yarn.
When designing this shawl, I change my colour for the short row sections on the wrong side. This means that the main colour only has to travel a couple of rows up (as there are no short rows on that end) which will allow you to avoid breaking the yarn.
However, my colours do not have a big variation.
This means that the colour difference is very subtle on the right side. This will be more dramatic if you have a big difference in colour. I like how this works, but if you don't, you can work your colour change on a right side row and adjust the short rows by a row to compensate.
The main yarn used in this shawl is a fingering weight yarn with a contrasting lace weight yarn. My lace weight was a brushed mohair blend, which is very forgiving of knitting loosely as the mohair 'fills in the gaps'.
The stitches in the lace weight are going to be much more open than the fingering weight yarn.
This will help to create two different textures for each section. Aggressive blocking will help to even out any uneven stitches you may have from knitting the contrast yarn loosely.
In my sample, I used 2 skeins of Cabrito, which have 25g in each. However, the way the shawl is written, if you have a single 50g skein of contrast colour, you can work that for all contrast yarn sections. This should work well in the pattern, especially if it has some colour variations.
If you want to make the shawl wider, you can work more short row sections, or perhaps make the short row sections that are there wider.
If you do this, however, you will need more than a single skein of the main colour. The shawl, as written, uses that yarn almost completely. There is a little extra of the contrast yarn to play with.
Wishing you all the best for clue 1 of the KAL.
Don't forget to drop into Knithub to join the chat!
And if you'd like to join us for the 2024 Mystery Knit-along, just click here.
Can you believe we are releasing the final clue of the Galanta knit-along?
If you are working on the vest, this clue is really fast. You will just be working your armhole and neck edgings.
If you are doing the full sweater, then you will also work your sleeves.
Don't worry, we won't leave anyone on sleeve island!
In the Galanta Sweater, the sleeves are worked from the top down, with short row sleeve cap shaping.
You begin by picking up the stitches around the armhole, working short rows back and forth to shape the sleeve cap, and then joining in the round to work the sleeve.
Did you know that even at this late stage, there are lots of ways to tweak your final knit?
In fact, sleeve modifications are probably the number one change that most knitters make to their garments!
Adjusting the length to suit your body, even if it's as little as an inch, can make or break how comfortable a sweater is to wear.
It's the same with the sleeve size.
Do you have a bigger upper arm?
Pick up more stitches!
Small wrist?
Add a few more decreases just before the cuff.
The rate of stitch pick up around the armhole will vary depending on whether you are working the set-in sleeve or the vest.
For both, you will begin at the centre of the underarm and you will pick up one stitch for each of the bound-off underarm stitches.
For the set-in sleeve, as you work along the rows along the side of the armhole you will be picking up close to one stitch for every two rows. This is a wide spacing but it works because you are working short rows back and forth to shape the sleeve cap this gives you plenty of room.
When you have finished, you’ll be at your upper arm and that will mean you have the right number of upper arm stitches.
If you are working the vest, you will want to pick up more stitches.
You will be picking up around two stitches for every three rows.
This is because you are just working an edging, so you need enough stitches for that edging to lie nice and smooth.
If you are worried about your vest armhole getting too tight (most at risk with the I-cord version) then you can pick up extra stitches or alternatively, even use a larger needle size.
If you want a larger upper arm, you will need to pick up more stitches around the armhole opening and add extra short rows to match the extra stitches picked up.
Make sure you add the same amount of extra stitches on each side so that your sleeve is symmetrical!
For a stitch gauge of 18 sts = 4" / 10 cm in St St an addition of 4 extra stitches adds 1” / 2.5 cm approximately to the sleeve circumference.
Be careful to make changes in multiples of 4 so that you can still easily work the faux cable cuff which has a 4 stitch pattern repeat.
If you want to change the size of your sleeve at the cuff, you can adjust the number of decreases, giving you either a smaller cuff with more decreases or a larger cuff if you reduce the number of decreases.
If you want to change your sleeve length, just adjust the length as you work. If you want to shorten the sleeve, you may need to move your sleeve decreases closer together to fit them all in.
If you want a shorter sleeve but the same number of total decreases, then you will take out some rounds between each decrease. The total number taken out will depend on how much length you want to reduce the length.
If you wanted to make it 2” / 5 cm shorter, you want 13 rounds less. You would remove those 13 rounds from between the decreases.
The v-neck is designed to be fairly deep, with two edging options. The I-cord edging will create a firm, but open neckline, but the ribbed edging will close the neckline, giving you a less open neck.
If you want to close your neckline in even more, you can use the ribbed neck edge to do that.
You would:
Wow, clue 3 of the Galanta KAL has a lot of modification options!
Don't forget to pop into our Knithub to chat about any modifications you're knitting or if you have any questions. And don't forget to share your wips and post your FO in the final prize thread!
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'!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
There's plenty of time to join in the fun, just click here:
