A.R.A.N. PROJECT

Date: Tue, 14 Oct 1997 12:27:06 -0400 (EDT)
To: knit@Bolis.com
Subject: KNIT: A.R.A.N. Post #20 - Assembling the Yoke

Good morning all...

It is overcast and dreary here in Hudson Valley of NY State, but even with
that greyness about, there is such COLOR on the trees that one can't wait
to find time to sit and gaze. I find myself at this time of year, picking
out oranges and reds and corals and golds and browns and yellows to dream
of knitting together.  BROWN SHEEP HANDPAINT has a wonderful color called
New England Fall that has ALL those colors and their variations in one
skein, and this is the year I will knit with it. 

But...on to the A.R.A.N sweater, first...

ASSEMBLING CIRCULAR SWEATER YOKES

For those of you new to circular sweater knitting, the yokes are the most
fun. You get to put all your stitches on one needle...be amazed by the
massiveness of it...and find yourself traveling very quickly to the top as
each round is completed.  At the same time, there is a lot of decreasing
going on and you have to pay a little more attention to details. With all
the aran patterning, you will be advised to try and STAY IN PATTERN as the
decreases eat into your lovely cables. Do your best...and feel free to
whine and rip back a few stitches and try again if you don't like how
something came out. This is a good place to use and refine your "knitter's
sense" that this mornings' knitlist was waxing poetic about. Knitting is a
skill that becomes sharper with use...so stay sharp! 

ARAN PATTERNS AND YOKE DEPTH

Way back in the measurement posts, I calculated that I wanted this yoke to
be 10" deep. So, I went to the finished body of my sweater, laid it out as
evenly as I could, and took some measurements off it for the ROW GAUGE I
was knitting at. I measured up 10" of pattern (not including the ribbing) 
and found that it took me 48 rows to achieve the 10". So, my yoke will
include a total of 48 rounds of knitting BEFORE I start the neck ribbing
(but not before I start the neck SHAPING...more on that tomorrow). This
will cause the yoke to be a little deeper than the 10" (maybe 11"), but I
have decided that is fine with me. This means that I need to chart out the
Aran Patterns for the next 48 rounds.  If you have a spreadsheet program
on your computer, this is very easy to do, as you can cut and paste and
move parts of charts around until you have EXACTLY what you want and then
you can print out how you are to proceed.  I discovered how to do this
while working on this project (thanks, KIM!!!...kimknits@bigfoot.com)  and
would be glad to send my MS WORKS Aran file to anyone who can use it.  I
will not post it to the knitlist...I can't imagine the horror of what may
come back in digest form!

The important thing to remember in all this, is that if you know exactly
how each round will be knit in pattern, then your decreases will be much
easier to do. The convenience of having everything in chart form in front
of you so that YOU CAN UNDERLINE WHERE YOU ARE cannot be matched, IMHO. 

NUMBERS...

In Post #19, I calculated the underarm stitches for my sweater...22 at 4
places. That equals 88 stitches that will be put on holders and out of
comission for a while. So now we can do some more math...

Body stitches (276) + sleeve sts (84) + second sleeve sts (84) = 444 sts
altogether (good grief!) 

BUT...remember we put all those underarm sts on holders...so 444 - 88 =
356 sts (still a lot!!!) 

Those 356 sts will be what we join together and knit with at the yoke. 

KNITTING THE YOKE TOGETHER

Assemble 8 colored markers...2 of one color...6 of another. These markers
must be different from anything else you are using (you can run colored
yarn through them to differentiate them from the rest). 

If you have a few locking stitch holders or safety pins, they will help a
bit if this circular sweater knitting is brand new to you. 

Now...check to be sure that your underarm sts are securely run through
with waste yarn and you are ready to begin. 

If you are a beginner...find the areas where you have marked the underarm
stitches. Pin and clip one sleeve underarm to one body underarm with the
underarm sts matching...the double seed of the sleeve pretty much
underneath the sleeve, and the CELTIC PLAIT showing on the outside. Then
do the same with the other side and other sleeve. Your sweater will appear
like this (well...try to imagine it as you peer down from the top into all
the knitted tubes you have made thus far...).  It helps to imagine that
you have hung the sweater up and are looking into it from the top. 

  ____   /----------------body (front)-----------------\  _____
 /    \ /                                               \/     \
sleeve ll                                               lsleeve l
l      ll                                               l       l
 \____/ \                                              / \_____/
         \----------------body (back)-----------------/
          * we start HERE


We are going to start knitting at the back left shoulder (see the *)

The first and last stitch of each sleeve (a total of 4 places) will become
our RAGLAN SEAM STITCH. It will be asked to become a TWISTED KNIT(knit in
the back loop...and EVERY ROUND, too) ...and right now. We are going to do
our raglan decreases as follows...* P 2 tog, TK (twisted knit), P 2 tog*.
This will happen at our four raglan points of decrease whenever we deem it
necessary (more about that in the next post). I wanted to put in a cable
to decrease around, but I think it would make the sweater top too busy, so
I am opting for simplicity. Besides, I have 4 days to finish this sweater
(yikes!!) 

So...start with a new ball of working yarn.  Cut off all the ends of any
balls you HAD been working with leaving 6" to weave in later.  Scoot any
live sts on your SLEEVE NEEDLE to the left point so that you are looking
at the underarm sts of the sleeve and their absence from your needle.
Scoot any live stitches to right side of your BODY NEEDLE (the long one)
so that you are looking at the first set of underarm sts on the body and
the gaping hole where they have been dropped off the needle (but secure
with your darning thread!!!!!). Now, don't look at the body sts anymore,
but look to the first stitch of your sleeve as it presents itself. This
stitch will become marked on BOTH SIDES with 2 of your markers (the ones
with unique color to them) and becomes the BEGINNING of the round. This
stitch will now, and forever more, be worked as a TWISTED KNIT. 

Here we go....with your working yarn, place marker (one of the 2), work
your first stitch of the sleeve as a twisted knit, place marker (other of
the 2), P 1, work in pattern on your sleeve until you are 2 sts from the
end of the sleeve... 

P 1, place a colored marker (one of the 6), work a TWISTED KNIT, place a
colored marker (one of the 6), P 1 (this will be the first stitch of the
body at side front), work in pattern across the body front until you are
one st from the end...P 1, place marker (one of the 6), work a TWISTED
KNIT (this will be the first st of the second sleeve)...place marker (one
of the 6), P 1, work in pattern across the second sleeve until you are 2
sts from the end...P 1, place marker (one of the 6), work a TWISTED KNIT,
place marker (one of the 6), P 1 (this will be the first stitch of the
body back), work across in pattern until 1 stitch from beginning of
round...P1. You have completed your first round! Write it down...you will
have 47 more to go if your sweater is like mine. 

We will start decreasing tomorrow!!!!!!!!!

If anyone sees any mistakes in this post...please send me a note. I am again
sponsoring a mistake contest...winners get goodies by snailmail.

Claudia knitting at Countrywool overlooking Blue Hill in the Hudson Valley
of NY State in the USA 
Countrywool@berk.com
get the complete Anyknitter's Revolving Aran Network (A.R.A.N.) pattern
at: Esther's Knitting Page  http://www.cs.oswego.edu/~ebozak/knit