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Prep: A Love Letter toRaglans
Often when I cast on for a new design, it’s after hours of prep work. Swatching, re-swatching, changing stitch patterns, taking measurements, doing math, making notes. If you’ve taken one of my classes, you know I’m a huge fan of gauge swatching. Taking that half hour to work up a good square of sample fabric – and then blocking it properly before measuring – is time well spent. In addition to just making sure that you’re knitting at the right tension, it’s an opportunity to break the ice with your new yarn, to learn how it feels under your finger tips, to see how the texture unfolds with every stitch.
But, I won’t lie to you. I did not swatch for this design. I simply pulled out my 4mm addi clicks and cast on.
Sometimes an idea is too captivating to wait. I had this cable in my mind, and I wanted to design a raglan around it, with the cable panels coming down on either side of the yoke, then continuing through the body on a background of reverse stockinette. Because the cable panels are quite wide, my neckline cast on was more or less set, without swatching or multiplication.
The yarn is Plymouth Galway, close enough to Cascade 220 that I could predict my gauge within a fraction of a stitch.
So, I took that leap and cast on.
Raglans in the round are popular for this very reason; spontaneity.
They are forgiving. Because you start with a square (or a circle) for the neckline, if it’s a wee bit large, it won’t matter; just pick up stitches and knit on that neckband a little deeper than planned. (Of course, if it’s too small to fit over your head, that’s a massive problem that can only be remedied by cutting or frogging back to the beginning.)
Raglans are easy to fit. If the body gets a bit large before your yoke is deep enough, Raglans look even classier when working a few inches even at the end of the yoke. Because you can try on as you work, you can make sure the size is right, and the shaping is bang-on, long before you’ve finished the garment.
They are the ultimate blank canvas. Working in the round affords unique design opportunities that seams and set in sleeves can’t fathom. And for designers, with the yoke in a single piece, it’s easy to see the big picture early on in the project, early enough to shift direction, or add in some feature you hadn’t planned.
However, raglans aren’t the be-all and end-all of knitting pattern design.
There’s nothing like a proper set in sleeve to make you feel elegant and classy. And seams ARE often important in knitting. Seams lend structure to garments, helping them stay in shape over the years, or keeping a potentially unruly stitch pattern in check. For example, on my Slow Curve pattern, seams play an important role both in terms of structure and design. Circular yokes are beautiful to work, and allow for seemingly magical colourwork that grows and changes organically. And so on.
But I love the Raglan. And I love it for designs like this one, where the structure fits my idea so very perfectly.
I’m designing more and more this way right now. Brief flash of an idea turns into the beginnings of a garment. Some math, some planning, some design details fleshed out on the needles. I find it exciting and rewarding, if not exactly low risk.
I may need to rip this beautiful blue thing back to the beginning. I know this, and I’m prepared, just in case. But maybe not. Maybe it will all continue to come together, the right shape, the right size. With little advanced prep work and one solid idea.
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March 4th, 2010 at 8:02 am
I’m not arrogant enough to believe my recent twitter mini-rant inspired this, but it’s timely!
I agree with everything you say… but but but…
They don’t look good on every body type, and it’s very hard to design one that’s actually tailored and flattering… You have the chops to do it, but there are lot of ugly saggy raglans out there. I have narrow shoulders and a big bust and I cannot get one to fit nicely without significant gymnastics.
And newer knitters are often told they are easy to alter. Yes, you can add or take away from the yoke. But it’s not easy for a beginner, and I find the patterns unhelpful and misleading in this respect. And we’re doing a disservice to newer knitters with this, IMHO.
Good discussion, thanks!
March 4th, 2010 at 9:25 am
I’m loving the looks of this sweater and can’t wait for it to be published. Looking at the notes and the math makes my head spin. Don’t know how you pattern writers do it! The thing I love about raglans – no seaming!
March 4th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Ah ha! Kate – yes, your comment is what made me think about *why* I enjoy designing raglans. Also, I heartily agree. Raglans are not suited to every shape. But then, neither are any other garment shape. I’d also posit that every sweater shape can suffer when ill-designed.
Compared to a sweater in pieces, I think garments knit in the round are easier to understand for many beginning knitters. Seeing the thing grow off the needles fully formed can help make that light bulb come on in a way that two flat fronts and a back doesn’t for many. That said, altering any pattern is not something intended for beginning knitters. But knitters who have some experience and adventure can and do successfully alter many patterns. At my shop, I found that newer knitters were much more likely to attempt alterations or adjustments on top down raglans simply because they could try it on and see what needed to be altered before beginning. It just clicked in a way that I never saw flat patterns click.
That said, no, there is no one perfect sweater shape. And thank the lord for that! I’d get bored designing or knitting one thing over and over again…
March 4th, 2010 at 10:56 am
That is the most gorgeous blue! And I love Galway yarn. Are you finding it nice to knit with? I always do.
I’ll be interested in seeing this finished design! Sounds interesting.
March 4th, 2010 at 11:23 am
Yep! The original intention of this post was to talk about how simple yarns like Galway, 220, are so perfect for showcasing knitting. And how much I love reverse stockinette. I got a little sidetracked on the raglan convo, though.
March 4th, 2010 at 12:04 pm
That is absolutely STUNNING Amy!! you are brilliant! I simply cannot wait to knit this one
and the color is just gorgeous too! very rich and jewel like.
Loved the discussion as well! As far as simplicity of the raglan … I can say that the raglan is the one “type” of sweater that I am comfortable designing on my own and is very easy to change and manipulate along the way … way less daunting than trying to change a set in sleeve pattern IMO. And like Amy says … trying it on as you go makes it a easier sweater for beginners to manipulate .. I totally agree there.
In reference to Kate’s post … why not try adding bust darts?? I know a very chesty but petite lady that does that all the time and her raglans come out looking gorgeous on her
March 4th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
Amy, thank you for this post! I’m a beginning knitter, and as you said in your comment, making a raglan sweater/knitting in the round had the effect of a light bulb going on. My mother, who is an experienced knitter, thinks very poorly of knitting-in-the-round sweaters; she’s a true believer in seams and set-in-sleeves. Your post and Kate’s comment help me understand that there are pros and cons on both sides… Thank you!
March 5th, 2010 at 8:27 am
Oh yes, god knows, there are ugly sweaters of all shapes out there!
And yes, absolutely, adventurous knitters can design a raglan very successfully.
To Carissa Re: bust darts – yes, absolutely – they do help enormously with a raglan for my sort of shape! But that’s not necessarily an easy alteration – particularly when I know that there is a shape that fits me better.
And that’s my point, really: I just want people to know that there is more than one shape out there, and to try them all to see what works for them. Each shape has pros and cons….
I highly recommend spending hour in the Gap every season trying on every sweater they have. Seriously. Invaluable lessons there! (Go on a quiet day, take a tape measure and notebook, and do be respectful of the merchandise.)
And for me and all the girls shaped like me, I’m designing a line of top-down set-in sleeves – so you can try them on, so you can understand them, so you can make alterations, so you can manage yarn usage. I wanna bring the advantages of the top-down to other shapes!
April 8th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Am working on some projects from Wendy Bernard’s book Custom Knits. Agreed, the “help” is a little thin but then again I am not at all adverce to re-knitting anything over and over. It has made me feel brave enough to try to design something on my own. Making the notes is quite a challenge, though. I don’t even know how to tell myself what I’ve done half the time. hahaha Great discussion here. Ann
August 3rd, 2010 at 8:22 am
[...] and before my Dad got sick again, I began the design you see pictured above. I even wrote about why I love designing raglans, using this something blue as [...]