DEAR KNIT NERD
Hi,
A customer has a Jennifer Steinglass sweater that she has knit with a colourwork yoke. The sweater fits nicely in the bust and body, but the chest above the armpits seems to ride up and make a big bulge of fabric sitting up towards her collarbone.
What is causing this, what adjustments can be made? Is the yoke depth too deep? Or too tight?
DEAR CUSTOMER
Hi,
This tends to happen when there isn’t enough positive ease built into the sweater. Ease is the difference in your body’s and the sweater’s measurements and positive ease is when the sweater’s measurements are larger than your body’s measurements. It is usually the ease at the bust that we measure when talking about sweaters. Depending on the shoulder construction style of the sweater, different amounts of positive ease are required for the sweater to fit properly. The four most common sweater construction styles are:
- Drop shoulder
- Raglan
- Circular yoke
- Set-in sleeve
A sweater with a set-in sleeve conforms the most to the body’s actual shape so it can be made with no (or very little) positive ease at the bust and still fit and move well with the body, but the other 3 styles need to have more positive ease built in to ensure that they fit properly. For instance, Circular yoke sweaters for example should have at least 2 to 4 inches of positive ease at the bust since there ends up being extra fabric above the bust to create the circular yoke (our bodies just aren’t shaped the way the yoke is) and if there isn’t positive ease at the bust, the sweater will want to creep up and the extra fabric will bunch. If there is enough positive ease built in, then the sweater will nicely hang off the shoulders and drape away from the body.
Circular yoke sweaters should have a fairly long yoke as well, you don’t want the sleaves to start right at the underarm because our bodies just aren’t shaped the way the sweater is. Separating for sleeves should happen at least 1 to 2 inches below the underarm. Raglan sweaters typically need at least 3 to 6 inches of positive ease and drop shoulder sweaters need even more, at least 4 to 8 inches of positive ease.
For the Solvi sweater that the customer made, Jennifer Steingass recommends choosing a size that has 4 to 6 inches of positive ease at the bust and the sample shown has 6 inches of positive ease. The proper size should have the right amount of length built into the yoke depth as well. Remember that when knitting sweaters, gauge is important, even if you knit a size that would give you 4 to 6 inches of positive ease, if your gauge is tighter than the pattern gauge, your finished garment will not have enough ease. If your gauge is tighter than the pattern gauge, you either need to go up in needle size to match the pattern gauge or if you like the fabric you are getting, you need to knit a larger size so that you still get that 4 to 6 inches of positive ease.
Sincerely,
Your Friendly Neighbourhood Knit Nerd
P.S. We have a great class that covers this and more: Sweater Success: Customizing Your Perfect Fit. It is currently sold out, but there will be another one in the new year.
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