I’m glad I know a little about fitting clothes onto my body. One of the things I know is that a basic yoke sweater where the front and back necklines are even will not work for me. What happens is that the back of the sweater pulls down, dragging the front neckline upwards, making the sweater feel like it’s choking me. We’ve all experienced this. Susanna has a great blog post about improving circular yokes. Basically, the idea is that by the time you are ready to separate the arms and body, the yoke should be balanced on your body. The front and back of the sweater should be on the same level.
For my version of the Sipila sweater, I was able to sneak in German short rows after the colorwork design before the yoke was separated for the body and arms. I loved knitting that sweater because I could fine-tune the fit as I was knitting it. The Nadie sweater has colorwork past the yoke so adding it right before the arm/body split won’t work.
The first time I started the Nadie sweater, I tried to add all the extra length at the very beginning before any of the colorwork started. The pattern already includes a neckline shaping section that does add about ½” worth of lift to the back neckline. However, I need 2½” of difference for the sweater to sit well on my shoulders. Adding 2½” was too much. The result was more like a hump and didn’t lift the neckline. This could partially be due to my inexperience as a knitter, so I tried another method.
The second time I started the sweater, I improved the neckline ribbing and decided I would add my German short rows between the colorwork sections of the sweater. I realize that adding more space between the colorwork with the German short rows isn’t as visually appealing, but sometimes you have to pick function over fashion. Uneven stripes go along with the jogging of rows since center back was the beginning of the round.
You get a much better perspective from the side. The back design is often too high on my sweater compared to the front until my bustline when the yoke is separated. I was able to adjust the pattern, so I eventually got the front and back balanced. From my bustline down, the sweater pattern is balanced, and therefore, the neckline doesn’t shift. This is why I want to try a West Knit pattern soon. They look like they’d fit!
In this post, I describe my alternative cast on method as well as the German short row additions.
Project Info
| Pattern | Nadine by This.Bird.Knits |
| Made for | Naomi |
| Size | 5 |
| Needle | US 5 (3.75mm) and US 8 (5.00mm) |
| Gauge | 22 sts / 23 rows = 4 in in Stockinette Stitch after blocking, using larger needles |
| Yarn | Hedgehog Fibres Merino DK |
| How much? | Yarn A, 4 skeins (460 grams), 872 yards Yarn B, 1.65 skeins (190 grams), 360 yards |
| Colorway | Yarn A, Plump Yarn B, Poppy |
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