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Part 4 – Easy Top-Down Raglan Knitalong

September 1, 2010

Hi Spud & Chloë Friends,

Well, how is everyone doing? I have been hearing lots of good reports on the Friends of Spud & Chloë Ravelry group. I have been answering a bunch of questions in email, too. Thank you to the Ravelry forum group members who have jumped in to answer questions and help and share. I can’t tell you how much that is appreciated. A huge hug, over the internet, is coming your way.

Our knitalong is now at #3 on the new and popular patterns on Ravelry. Check it out here! Whoot!

Wendy Bernard’s book, Custom Knits,  has climbed back up in the top 10 bestselling knitting books on Amazon since our knitalong began. That is so fabulous! Custom Knits has always done extremely well, even sitting in the #1 spot for many, many weeks when it first debuted. I keep reading that loads of you are purchasing her book right now and that is so wonderful. Thanks for giving Wendy your support, you won’t be disappointed with her book. I promise.

The formula or recipe for this knitalong is based on Wendy’s formula in Custom Knits on pages 154-55.

Here is the Grape Jelly Raglan with a completed body, including the 8 rounds of garter stitch at the bottom edge. The length of the sweater from the shoulder to the bottom is 23 inches.

By the way, I had already added my neck edging at this point. I will share how I did the neck edging after we do the sleeves.

Fits like a glove! Now I’m ready to move to the sleeves.

Sleeves:

Step 10 in Custom Knits, p. 155

Now is the time to pull out your double-pointed needles or if your sleeve is large enough, a 16-inch circular needle. I used a set of four double-pointed needles for my sleeves. You can use a set of 5 double-pointed needles (as Wendy suggests) or you can use the Magic Loop technique if you prefer that over the double-pointed needles. I don’t use Magic Loop so I won’t be of much help on that topic.

Here we go:

Place the sleeve stitches on your double-pointed needles. Reattach the yarn to begin the round. To do this I simply start working with the yarn leaving a long enough tail to weave in the end later. Work around the sleeve stitches until you come to the cast on stitches at the underarm.

Pick up the same number of stitches that you cast on for the underarm when you joined the body to work in the round.

*Note: Wendy did suggest that if you want to make the sleeve circumference smaller you could pick up fewer stitches than you cast on at the underarm. She said that you could pick up as few as 75% of this number.

Grape Jelly Raglan: Place 60 stitches on the three double-pointed needles and on the last needle pick up the 5 cast on stitches at the underarm.

Needles 1 and 2: 20 stitches

Needle 3: 25 stitches

Total number of sleeve stitches: 65 sts

TC’s Stripey Raglan: Place 55 stitches on 3 double-pointed needles and on the last needle I will pick up the 5 stitches from the cast on stitches at the underarm.

Needles 1, 2 and 3: 20 sts each

Total number of stitches: 60 sts

Next, place a stitch marker at the center of the picked up stitches at the underarm.

You can knit straight or even (without any sleeve shaping) at this point or you can add some sleeve shaping. For the Grape Jelly Raglan I did do some simple shaping on the sleeves as I worked down the arm. This is up to you to decide!

Sleeve Shaping!

Grape Jelly Raglan:

Decrease round (starting at the first stitch of the round at the center of the underarm where you place the stitch marker): k2tog, knit to the last 2 stitches, ssk (decreasing 2 stitches total for the round)

I worked the Decrease Round at the following increments (measured from the picked up stitches at the underarm):

1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and at the 10-inch length

After the final decrease round at 10-inches I worked even (no further decreases) until the sleeve measured 16-inches from the picked up stitches at the underarm. You can work your sleeve to any length you desire. Try on your sweater as you work the sleeves by placing the stitches on a piece of scrap yarn. This will help you determine your sleeve decreases (or not if you don’t want to include them) and the length of your sleeve.

When my sleeve measured 16-inches I added a garter stitch edging to match the edging at the bottom of the body.

Garter Stitch Edging:

Rnd 1: purl

Rnd 2: knit

Repeat rounds 1 and 2 four times total for 8 rounds of garter stitch. Bind off loosely. Cut the yarn and place the end on a yarn needle. Weave in the end to the inside of the sleeve and trim. Weave in all other ends and trim.

Repeat the sleeve instructions on the other side.

TC’s Stripey Raglan: Sleeve decreases yet to be determined but I am pretty sure I will follow the shaping I did for the Grape Jelly Raglan. I’ll keep you posted.

There you have it! Gooooo sleeves!

Next I will be back with a quick note about the neck edging and then we are done!

Here are some progress shots of TC’s Raglan! Sorry for the slight blur but you get the picture. I have been a good girl by stopping every few inches to weave in all of the color change ends on the inside. This sweater is as clean as a whistle inside and out. It is so much better to weave in your ends as you go. Then when you are done with the knitting, you are done with the project!

Oh yeah!!!

She loves it!

The back is adorable. What a fit if I do say so myself. Hope I don’t hurt my arm while I am patting myself on the back. I should be patting Wendy on the back but my arm won’t reach all the way to California! Instead I am giving Wendy a virtual online pat with my gratitude.

The previous shots were from a day or two ago. Here is my progress this morning. When TC’s raglan reaches 12 inches from the underarms I will have her try it on to determine the length. Then I will add the garter stitch edging. Right now the body is measuring 8 inches from the underarm.

Good luck! Thanks for joining in.

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