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:
Clue 2: Body
Overview
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.
Tips
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.
Changing Body Shaping
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.
Changing Length
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.
Straight Body Garter
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.
Live on YouTube
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!
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Wishing you all the best for clue 2 of the KAL!
