Tüt: calculate the raglan sweater yourself

On the way to a sewn and knitted wardrobe

February 7, 2018

Calculate the raglan sweater yourself

Hello my dears!

As I said, theory. In real life, however, other things keep happening that lead me to sit down with my calculator. In this particular case, for example, yarn that was left over. I unraveled this mohair-lace sweater after it had been in the closet for a long time and had not been worn once. It was the same with my mom, I still have her new piece made from the rubbed yarn pictures on the hard drive, stay tuned! The tingling actually went pretty well! Again, I didn’t want to knit the yarn individually, which is why I also added a beautiful forest green ("Loden") from the Schachenmayr Regia color palette. I then thought a little bit about the barrel length and needle size, later tried it out, I was certain: it should be narrow stripes. And I was right there with the calculator and the paper. And because it’s actually not that difficult, I thought, I’ll write you down how I did it.

First I looked for a well-fitting sweater from the closet (it is easiest here if it is also a raglan model, but does not necessarily have to be a knitted sweater) and took some measurements: arm length (a) and body length (b) each the armpit, width of the neckline (c), width of the sleeves at armpit height (d) as well as at the cuff (e) and body width (f). In addition, the length of the raglan slope (g). And then I figured out what to do. I wanted to start from the top, so I calculated the size of the neckline with my stitch sample, a simple set of three is enough to know how many stitches I need to cast to achieve the desired neckline.

The raglan part is a bit more complicated then. First you have to work out how many stitches you want to expand to how many. In the end yes from (c) to (d) + (f), so roughly speaking. Then calculate this again in stitches and you already know how many stitches need to be increased. The number should be divisible by eight if you want to increase two stitches on each raglan slope, so maybe correct something. You can also measure the size of the raglan slope (g) to calculate, over how many rows the increases are made. For me it was fitting that I increased 8 stitches in every second row and ended up arriving where I wanted to go.

The division of the stitches into the front, back and sleeves is also a bit of trial and error, you have to do something here too. The number of stitches you need for (d) minus the increases, then you are with one sleeve part. Front and back parts can also be calculated, I did both the same. Phew, I don’t think anyone understands what I’m writing here. But we’ve already got over the complicated part! Finally the raglan is knitted as calculated, then the sleeve stitches are closed and the body is worked in the round for the desired length. I did not have a waist because the sweater should fit loosely. For this I made fake side seams by knitting a left stitch on the sides. This creates a little more shape and looks good, even if it can only be guessed at the picture below, in real it is a bit clearer. After the hem, I turned to the sleeves.

Of course, the acceptance tests must also be calculated here. I knew how many stitches I have at the beginning (d) and where I want to go (e). So here is a little bit of three, and you already know how many decreases there should be. Combine this with the arm length (a) and then it is also clear in which rhythm you lose weight. With me it came out on every 8th round. Tada! That’s it, and the sweater has become pretty perfect for all this raking, just as I imagined!

I also installed short rows in the neck, actually it should be a little different, I guess I made a mistake. Fortunately, it doesn’t look as terrible as I thought at the beginning, it was really a kind of wave upwards. Next time I would rather put the turning points just before the sleeves to make the neck a little higher than the front neckline. But the experiment was worth it.

A little bit more about my sweater, since it was more generally a raglan sweater: I twisted the sock yarn into two threads in the narrow stripes, the wide ones consist of one sock yarn and two mohair. The mohair was double entangled in the original sweater and although the unraveling was super easy to handle: I would never have got the two threads apart in my life. I enmeshed with a needle size of 4mm, it should not be too loose to prevent felting and pilling a little. I then cheekily knitted the sleeves on the 3.5 mm sock wonder, since it is not yet larger and me me refuse to knit sleeves on double pointed needles. Incredible after knowing the sock wonder for it. I don’t see the difference in needle size.

In fact, I only knitted on the good piece for about a month, which amazes me right now. This is probably due to the fact that (for my standards) they are really thick needles.

I hope that with my description I was able to encourage someone to try it with their own calculations. Or maybe I scared someone off, I don’t know. It all sounds totally logical in my head, but that doesn’t mean that it works the same for others. So if you have any questions, feel free to write me a comment or email!

At the MeMade Wednesday I link the post to all the other well dressed women. You can also find the project at Ravelry.

February 7, 2018

Calculate the raglan sweater yourself

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