Making my own Crochet Raglan Sweater.

 On a tide of positivity, having custom made my very first circular yoke sweater, I decided to do the same with a Raglan yoke. It has been more than difficult! So let me talk you through what I have discovered.

I have searched the internet from top to bottom looking for something which would give me a place to start and hopefully explain the maths involved. I found lots of people claiming to do that, but I got no where. 

 

I don't think I am the only confused crocheter in the world. If you take a handful of crochet sweater patterns at random you will discover that the majority of the older ones are constructed from pattern pieces which are sewn together. The newer ones are more likely to be drop shoulder construction. There are some round yoke sweaters and finally you will find a just few raglan yoke. One reason, I discovered, is not that they are more difficult to make, but that it is harder to grade for different sizes. But perhaps the other reason is that crochet raglan yoke construction is a well kept secret!

 

I would love to tell you that I have solved the mystery, but I have furthered my understanding. Let me instead, share with you my discoveries in the hope that one of you very clever people can move us forward from there!

 

In principle designing a raglan yoke should be simple, so where was I going wrong? I came to the conclusion that I was coming at the problem based on my knowledge of round yoke construction. Round yoke construction is based on thirds. The front and back are formed from about a third of the circumference each, the sleeves from a sixth each. The circumference itself is based on the Bust measurement, + the Bicep measurements, + Ease. The same measurements don't work for a raglan yoke, it's like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole!

It was this image that finally led to my understanding. Yes, there are people who tell you that this is how to make a raglan yoke. They will also tell you to place 2 increases at each corner of the raglan and to keep increasing until the yoke fits. You can make a garment this way, but it will not fit well. We are not all made up of the same proportions. If you are very slim, you may find that your sweater is oversized by the time the yoke is the right length. If you are full busted, you may find that your armhole is too low by the time you have achieved the right circumference.

There are two very important measurements we need to begin. They are the High Bust circumference and the Raglan Depth. 

Raglan Depth

For this we need three pieces of information.

1. First we begin with the Armhole Depth. This is the distance vertically from the shoulder to the underarm. Forget all the curves and bends just measure straight down, you can even use a flat ruler. It does help if someone else measures it for you while you stand still!
2. Now you need to add on Ease. It would be very uncomfortable if your armhole was exactly that depth. Once again the ease is the straight line down to the bottom of the armhole in a garment. You can look at another garment to find this measurement or you could measure down using your bra or vest top as a guide.
3. If you look at a raglan yoke, you will realise that the line of the raglan does not begin on the top of the shoulder. Instead it starts at the neckline. So we also need to add in the Shoulder slope. The distance between the place where your neck joins your shoulders and the lowest point of your shoulders.

All of these three measurements, Armhole depth + Ease + Shoulder Slope = the Raglan Depth. What you have worked out is the vertical distance from the top of the garment to the bottom of the raglan line. 

High Bust 

I had never heard of the High Bust measurement before. It is the chest circumference taken at the Raglan Depth. So it is smaller than your Full Bust measurement. You'll need to add Ease to this measurement as well.

Full Bust 

You will of course also need the usual Full Bust measurement and Ease. At the bottom of the raglan yoke, when you begin to crochet the body, you will add a number of stitches across at each underarm. The number of stitches you add will be based on the difference between the Full bust and the High Bust. This is what gives the garment the right size for the body. It should also be remembered that these stitches will also be picked up when the sleeves are added, increasing the width of the sleeves.

 

Planning You Raglan Yoke 

The numbers you need to plan your raglan yoke are as follows:

• Your preferred Neckline measurement, which must be at least the width of your head!
• Your High Bust measurement. Don't forget to add Ease.
• Your Full Bust measurement, + Ease. 
• The Raglan Depth = Armhole Depth, which is the vertical measurement from your shoulder to the underarm + Ease + Shoulder Drop.
• Your Bicep measurement, + Ease. 

It may help to also take measurements from a raglan garment which fits well. You can compare them to your actual measurements and they may help you to decide on the neckline circumference, or the amount of ease to add.

 

Drawing a Chart

I decided that the best way to proceed would be to draw out the yoke on squared paper so that I could understand how it would work. 

So, I began by drawing a rectangle. 

I knew the width, which is half the High Bust including ease.

The overall rectangle depth is the Raglan Depth doubled.

Short Row shaping

There are different ways to add short row shaping as we discussed here. To keep things simple I decided to add 4cms of short rows to the back of my yoke. This lowers the neckline at the front as I did in this mini sampler.

It is perfectly acceptable to make a raglan garment without adding short row shaping but I have mentioned it here as an example. You can see that those short rows are part of the yoke. They increase the width of the sleeves and reduce the amount of increase rounds.

 

Placing the neckline. 

I won't lie, this is the hard bit! 

The shape and size of your yoke will determine the shape of your neckline. Remember you are working in the round, so there will be the same number of rows from the neckline to the bottom of the yoke, as there will be from the neckline to the sleeve cap edge.

I started with the shape of neckline I wanted and worked out:

(High Bust width - Neckline width) divided by 2= the depth of the sleeve cap.

(Raglan Depth x 2 - Neckline depth) divided by 2 = the yoke depth.

Of course those numbers were not the same, so now I had to juggle them about until they matched. It meant I had to change the shape of my neckline.

So once I had got these numbers to match I could draw in my neckline. 

 

There's still one more thing to do.

At the end of the yoke you will add chain stitches across the yoke to separate the body from the sleeves. These chain stitches will give you the full bust measurement, so; Full Bust - High Bust = distance to be filled by chain stitches.

 

Now you have to convert all of these measurements into stitches and rows using your gauge swatch. At that point you may have to adjust your measurements here and there as you can't have half a stitch or half a row. You may decide to add the extra odd stitch to the back or front of your garment or neckline. Will it matter if your yoke is half a row too long or too short? 

 

Then it's time to plan the increases. 

You now know how many stitches will be in your neckline and how many at the bottom of the yoke. You also know how many rows you have to increase in. The chances are you will have an odd number of increases. 

The secret is that you increase unevenly.  You do not have to increase on the sleeve by the same number of stitches as the front and back panel. Which ever way you do decide to increase, you need to spread those extra stitches out as evenly as possible along the line of the raglan.

That being said, there other types of compound raglan where the increases are spread in a different way. But let's not run before we can walk!

 

This is what my finished yoke looked like.

 

You can see how the short row shaping has lowered the neckline at the front. I checked the fit at this point.

In the next round I added the chain stitches across at the underarm. I also finished the neckline before checking the fit again.

 

I then decreased a little, slowly at the under bust bringing in the width towards the waist. For a short cropped style you certainly want to do this. For a longer style you may want to increase again towards the hips.

 

Having completed the body I can now move onto the sleeves. There is quite a big difference between the number of stitches at the start of the sleeve and the number I wanted at the bicep, and the number I want at the wrist. So now is the time to plan the decreases. Don't forget to record any changes so that both sleeves match!

  and Hey Presto! I have a raglan yoke sweater in my size! 

 

In conclusion: 

I think perhaps there is too much fabric at the bust and bicep. Should I have used less ease at the underarm, or perhaps I was overly generous with the shoulder slope? Both things would have given me narrower sleeves at the top. But, looking on the bright side, at least it isn't too tight at the under arm. May be it's time to investigate how a different sort of compound raglan curve works?

 

  

I know it sounds complicated but...

 How do you eat an Elephant?

One bite at a time!

 

If you take it one step at a time you will have a garment that is custom made for you and you alone!

fastening off...