I have been giving a lot of thought to fitting the raglan to the plus sized figure. I measured several of the women at our knitting guild meeting last night. Why can't there be a standard body for each size ?!!! OK, I'm over it.

I've been talking to different people for the last 2 years, gathering information and peeves about plus size sweaters. One pet peeve was right on the money. Why do plus size sweaters make the front and back of the sweater the same width? Most of us carry more weight on the front than the back. I'm not discounting the back carriage but that's further down the sweater so I don't have to consider it yet. It makes sense, the Front of a plus size garment could be wider than the back.


I am currently knitting some top downs by other people and making this change when I separate for my sleeves, making the Front wider than the Back. I did this on the Liesl by working across the number of stitches for the Front, one size up from my size, put the sleeves on spare yarn, worked the number of stitches for the Back, one size smaller than mine, put the second sleeve on spare yarn, and worked the Front, again one size bigger. It worked out perfectly. (I did check all the numbers first on my calculator to make sure it worked with the number of stitches I had on my needle.)

It's really difficult, for me anyway, to anticipate everything that might ensue from one decision until I act on it. Problems which I didn't think of crop up. You may have worked this out already but making the Front bigger means that the fabric above my bust line is also wider. I don't need extra material across my upper chest. In this pattern it won't matter because the lace will compensate but it's definitely a consideration. We need the extra material at the beginning of our bust and below, not above.


Food for thought. Any ideas?
I have a solution which I have been working on. It should work, I think, maybe.
-Deb

It seems to work.

I think the raglan line fits better along the sleeve.

It's closer to a set-in sleeve with the straight body line and an angled sleeve.

I'm liking it. And it's not hard to keep track of either.

The sleeve doesn't stick straight out sideways but slopes down slightly. It does look odd though, doesn't it. This definitely has potential. More experimenting is needed.

-Deb

I need a better word than 'exploratory knitting'. It's trying an idea out, seeing what it does and if I can learn anything more about top down knitting. I guess exploring is a good word for this type of work. Here are some results.

I did a V-neck with the standard rate of increase, one pair of increases at each of the 4 raglan lines every other round ...

right there. Then I thought, what would happen if I worked increases on the sleeve only every other round,

starting there. I didn't add any more stitches to the body at all.

The raglan line straightens out for a bit. I did this until I had the number of stitches I wanted on the sleeve. Then I stopped increasing on the sleeve altogether and increased on the body again. But to make up the stitches I now needed for the body I doubled up the increases for the last bit. I increased on every single round.

It's a bit messy. I need to take a look at some different ways of increasing every round. The raglan line takes a dive towards the underarm which is a terrific thing.

Hmm, in-ter-est-ing. It needs the final fit test which I thought I would try tomorrow. I need to separate the body and sleeves so I can try it on. Will it look totally weird? Probably.

And speaking of oddities, what did I find today on Sophy's desk? The ultimate tool for the femme handiwoman.

Eat your hearts out handy guys. Is this a wicked looking tool or what!

-Deb

Ravelry Group

Yesterday I set up a Cabin Fever Group in Ravelry (http://www.ravelry.com/groups/cabin-fever). While I was still trying to get the group image to stop being totally squished two "threads" (I think that's the term) were already being added!

Bev was totally on top of the whole group thing and started a thread about Your Fav Cabin Fever Pattern and the knitter with the question was right there with her. It was very cool. So, Deb and I sat down yesterday afternoon and Deb answered the question and we tried to figure our way around the group.

I think you can set up rules and post them (need to learn where and how) but right now our initial thing is we'd like people to put their name in with their comments/questions/discussions. Or is this not done? I'm not totally sure of the protocol. However, Deb and I prefer to have names to respond to as it seems more personal. Like a real conversation.

So, please feel free to join in! If anyone has suggestions about set-up or things I need to know or should know to administer or moderate the group please drop me an email, either at our email in Ravelry or info@cabinfever.ca - I'd appreciate it. This is a big learning curve for us!

I just finished the test knit for the yet un-named beaded mittlets (which will likely BE the name) from Shirl the Purl. Have made a coupla changes and went over them with Deb yesterday before I sewed in the ends. They came out terrific but I'll pull off the cast-off edges and add a couple of decreases just to keep them snug. After you wear mittlets for a bit, if there's not a decrease there, they tend to stretch a bit around you fingers.

You may, as I did, think that these are a tad large for my hand. They fit but are not "snug". Both Deb and I have relatively small hands (and stubby fingers). I tried these on several other people, including Al, and they fit great. So I am planning to knit these again, in DK weight for smaller hands. The red version(which will be the Medium/Large size) was done in Shelridge Farm's W4 (worsted weight) in Cranberry (lovely red) and I think I'll do the DK version (Small/Medium) in their yarn in one of two green's that I have. Can't quite make up my mind which one.

I am going to finish the editing of the pattern today, then cast on with a pink pair (worsted weight) for the 2nd test knit and the 2nd Christmas present. After I do that, Deb will take a turn and then we'll have them out. Would be nice to get them done soon as they'll make great Christmas presents (the red version is already pegged for one of Al's girls) and they are fast! A really quick knit.

-Lynda

Darts

I ripped back and redid the last 18 rows of the yoke to the underarm.
Over the last 18 rows I worked 9 Increase rows and on the Fronts only I doubled the increase by increasing 2 sts in the same stitch. This gives me more bust material. It also causes the raglan line to dive under the arm.
You can see that the increase holes closer to the underarm are larger, that's because I worked a knit and a purl into the same stitch - increase of 2 sts instead of one.

That made each of the Fronts 1 1/2" wider to accommodate the bosom. If I measure across the 2 Fronts they measure 3" wider than the Back. I will decrease stitches at the sides as I knit down. I wouldn't be caught anywhere with an abbreviated top like this! Are you asking why I bothered? It occurred to me that if I could work the equivalent of a bust dart, I could make a top down which could fit closer to the body. And I thought a summer top should fit this way. It seems to have worked. I'll have someone else take a photo when it's longer.

Lynda and I are off to TNNA (The National NeedleArts Association show) in Columbus Ohio (http://www.tnna.org/). I'll be knitting on my top and I have one other project to get started. We are staying to work the Knitters Connection show (http://www.knittersconnection.com/) the following weekend and Shelridge Farm (http://www.shelridge.com/) is bringing me some newly dyed sock wool to try out while I'm there. I think that's enough to keep me occupied even if no one comes by our booth. Always prepared. The Internet is not always reliable but I'll try to post something during the next couple of weeks. It's going to be a long trip this time. Back around June 24.

Catch up with you then,

Deb