Generic Top-Down Raglan Sweater

Note: This isn’t going to be a traditional knitting pattern, more just notes on how you can make a very generic stockinette stitch sweater that you can then pin your own desings onto.

The gauge square

Since you’re basically making your own design this is very imprtant. I usually do 20 stitches by 20 rows for this in whatever stitch I’m planning to do the pattern in. After that just go ahead and measure how big it is and divide the number of stitches/rows by the length/height and you’ve got your gauge.

Collar

To cast on for the collar you’ll want to take your back of the neck measurement, which can either be done by finding a raglan sweater you like the feel of, or by getting someone to measure the distance between your ears with the measuring tape on your back. From there you want to cast on that many stitches, plus the sleeve stitches. How many sleeve stitches? Estimate is 30% of your back measurement, but if you want to be exact about it:

• Take the measurement just under your arms where you want the sleeves to be split from the main body
• Figure out how many stitches that would be based on your gauge square
• Subtract your back of the neck cast-on from that number
• Divide that number in half (we’re calling this number X)
• Take the measurement of your arms starting at the point where you took the measurement of your chest
• Subtract X from that number
• That’s how much for each sleeve

51, 23 As an example, here’s me doing those steps:

• Back of neck measurement: 7 inches
• Chest measurement: 51 inches
• Arm measurement: 23 inches
• Gauge: 4 stitches per inch
• Back of neck stitches: 28
• Chest stitches: 204
• Arm stitches: 92
• X = 88
• Arm cast on = 4
• How much I would actually cast on: Probably 8, which is 30% of 28, because I’m not doing all of this math to cast on a sweater

What is all of this in metric? Doesn’t matter, the math is the same.

So the final cast on:

• 2 stitches for the front
• Place marker
• Sleeve stitches
• Place marker
• Back stitches
• Place marker
• Sleeve stitches (again)
• Place marker
• 2 stitches for the front (again)

Round all of these to the next even or odd number (or whatever multiple you need) depending on whether the pattern you’re doing requires an even or odd number (usually it’s even, when in doubt always even)

The collar design

You have a few options for what kind of collar you want. You can go with a turtle neck collar, in which case ignore all of the above and just cast on two sets of back and sleeve stitches. Boat neck is similar, but double or triple the amount of stitches you cast on.

For more shaped necks, like a crew neck (very typical neckline for a lot of shirts), you want to do the above instructions. From there it gets more fun. You always want to increase around each marker every other row. With the front it’ll depend on the kind of neck you want

For a crew neck:

• Increase every other row, same as the other stitches

For a v-neck:

• Increase less often. Every 4th row will get you right around your bustline, which is a pretty common point for v-necks to go to.

Once the sleeves are done

Once the sleeves are done, in a separate yarn that you don’t mind wasting, cast off the stitches so you can undo the cast-off later to finish the sleeves. After the sleeves are cast off, knit the body until you’re at the length you want it to be.

For the body I’d recommend increasing until you’re at the measurement that’s the thickest you want it to be for that comfy/loose fit, if you want something more fitted then you’ll want to consult your gauge square and do math similar to the one mentioned in the first part of this article. Figure out how many stitches you want on the row you want to end up, and how many rows it’ll take to get to that row, and decrease accordingly. Common points to increase/decrease to are bust (fullest part of your chest), waist (middle of your body, right before you start expanding to get to your hips), and hips (the common definition of hips is the accurate one).

Finishing the sleeves

Go back, and undo the cast-off edge you did on one of the sleeves, and then take the sleeves down to however long you want ’em. Again, either consult your gauge square to see how many stitches you need at the wrists and decrease slowly, or there’s another option of just knitting straight sleeves and decreasing some at the sleeves to cinch them down to the wrists with the ribbing.

That’s it

Enjoy your 40-60 hours of work, and remember: Never make a sweater for a partner unless you’re certain your relationship will be able to handle you thinking about your partner for 40-60 hours straight.