Going Seamless
Jared Flood concludes his tutorial on ways to make your sweater knitting that much sweeter.
In the Fall 2009 issue, we got started with a primer on converting flat-knitted garments into seamless ones. This article is a continuation of that process and will break down some of the basics for understanding one of the more enigmatic components of a seamless garment’s construction: the yoke.
The two most common yoke styles used in knitwear design today are the set-in sleeve and raglan sleeve, both of which are renowned for their good looks and well-fitting nature. Here we’ll discuss the general methods for converting both styles from four flat pieces to an all-in-one seamless yoke.
Preparing to Join
Seamless yokes all begin in the same manner, with the union of cylinders. We left off last time with three knitted tubes: one body and two sleeves. After each of these pieces has been worked to the underarm, it’s time to unite them into one large round—from this point on, the garment will be worked as one piece to the collar, with all parts shaped simultaneously.
If you are working a seamless set-in sleeve, be sure to make a note of the total number of sts at the upper arm of your sleeve before proceeding (indicated in blue on Diagram A), as you will need to reference this number later when working your yoke.
Before joining your tubes, you must first place underarm stitches, which will no longer be worked, on a holder. The underarm stitches—held on body and sleeves alike—are located directly over the side seams of a garment and mirror one another. Their location is indicated by red circles in Diagram A.
Diagram A: Joining body and sleeves (underarm stitches indicated by red circles).
Underarm stitches generally make up around 8 to 10 percent of the garment’s measurement at chest circumference. In a pieced garment, the underarm stitches are those that are bound off on either side of sleeve or body pieces at the beginning of the “Armhole Shaping” section of your pattern. (These stitches are indicated by red lines at the base of the sleeve cap/armhole on Diagram C on page 38 of Vogue Knitting Holiday 2009.) In trying to determine how many stitches you will need to allot for the underarm, look at your pattern and add together the two portions of bound-off stitches at the underarm. This sum will be the number of stitches you will place on a holder when uniting your tubes (I prefer to place them on waste yarn, as inflexible stitch holders may snag your knitting as you work). This number should be the same for each set of underarm stitches; those from the body will directly mirror those from the sleeve upon the union of your yoke, as indicated in Diagram B by dotted red lines.
Diagram B: Bird’s-eye view of the united round, with underarm sts held on waste yarn
(indicated by red dotted lines) and markers placed at each of the four joining points.
When joining sleeves to the body, you will also want to place markers at each of the four points where the pieces have been joined. One of these markers will act as your new beginning-of-round—for visibility, I like using a marker of an alternate color and prefer my beginning-of-round to be located at the back left shoulder seam (see red “M” in Diagram B). These markers will act as reference points throughout the shaping of the yoke as you work your decreases. Markers are key points in both set-in sleeve and raglan yoke styles and occupy the space between pieces—those that create the seams on garments that are knit in pieces and sewn up afterward.
See page 36 of Vogue Knitting Holiday 2009 for more of Jared Flood’s tutorial.
Going Seamless
Jared Flood concludes his tutorial on ways to make your sweater knitting that much sweeter.
In the Fall 2009 issue, we got started with a primer on converting flat-knitted garments into seamless ones. This article is a continuation of that process and will break down some of the basics for understanding one of the more enigmatic components of a seamless garment’s construction: the yoke.
The two most common yoke styles used in knitwear design today are the set-in sleeve and raglan sleeve, both of which are renowned for their good looks and well-fitting nature. Here we’ll discuss the general methods for converting both styles from four flat pieces to an all-in-one seamless yoke.
Preparing to Join
Seamless yokes all begin in the same manner, with the union of cylinders. We left off last time with three knitted tubes: one body and two sleeves. After each of these pieces has been worked to the underarm, it’s time to unite them into one large round—from this point on, the garment will be worked as one piece to the collar, with all parts shaped simultaneously.
If you are working a seamless set-in sleeve, be sure to make a note of the total number of sts at the upper arm of your sleeve before proceeding (indicated in blue on Diagram A), as you will need to reference this number later when working your yoke.
Before joining your tubes, you must first place underarm stitches, which will no longer be worked, on a holder. The underarm stitches—held on body and sleeves alike—are located directly over the side seams of a garment and mirror one another. Their location is indicated by red circles in Diagram A.
Diagram A: Joining body and sleeves (underarm stitches indicated by red circles).
Underarm stitches generally make up around 8 to 10 percent of the garment’s measurement at chest circumference. In a pieced garment, the underarm stitches are those that are bound off on either side of sleeve or body pieces at the beginning of the “Armhole Shaping” section of your pattern. (These stitches are indicated by red lines at the base of the sleeve cap/armhole on Diagram C on page 38 of Vogue Knitting Holiday 2009.) In trying to determine how many stitches you will need to allot for the underarm, look at your pattern and add together the two portions of bound-off stitches at the underarm. This sum will be the number of stitches you will place on a holder when uniting your tubes (I prefer to place them on waste yarn, as inflexible stitch holders may snag your knitting as you work). This number should be the same for each set of underarm stitches; those from the body will directly mirror those from the sleeve upon the union of your yoke, as indicated in Diagram B by dotted red lines.
Diagram B: Bird’s-eye view of the united round, with underarm sts held on waste yarn
(indicated by red dotted lines) and markers placed at each of the four joining points.
When joining sleeves to the body, you will also want to place markers at each of the four points where the pieces have been joined. One of these markers will act as your new beginning-of-round—for visibility, I like using a marker of an alternate color and prefer my beginning-of-round to be located at the back left shoulder seam (see red “M” in Diagram B). These markers will act as reference points throughout the shaping of the yoke as you work your decreases. Markers are key points in both set-in sleeve and raglan yoke styles and occupy the space between pieces—those that create the seams on garments that are knit in pieces and sewn up afterward.
See page 36 of Vogue Knitting Holiday 2009 for more of Jared Flood’s tutorial.