Hey, all! Yes, we are still alive and kicking. I am slowly working on my Big Love Cardigan. Everyone who sees it says they love the color — and I have to agree. And I am soldiering on despite my middle finger splint and packing to move!
So what is the problem with Big Love?? It is a very cute, boxy, cropped cardi (mine won’t be cropped!!) with almost 350 projects on Ravelry. I am not trying to diss this very talented designer, but it has a shoulder placement problem. And it could very well be that she did this on purpose as a design element…so there is that.
This diagram shows how a typical shoulder line aligns with the underarm:
The shoulder should line up right above the center point of the underarm. Big Love doesn’t do this. Because there is no neck shaping the shoulder line is pushed toward the back.
It can’t help itself — your neck is in the way! This moves the shoulder line to the back and rotates the underarm midpoint toward the bust:
This rotation affects the fit. Also, it pulls the front of the sweater up which makes the front shorter. The designer added a series of short rows to the bottom of fronts to account for this. 😐
I recently finished Ebbets which has the same construction, but corrects for it. So what I did was make the front two inches longer than the back. To do the math, just add one inch to the front measurement and subtract one inch from the back measurement (my original number was 7-1/4″). The resulting combination is the same overall depth for the armhole, it just places the shoulder in the correct position:
My armhole is still 14-1/2 as needed, but this small tweak deliberately moves the original shoulder line to the back of the neck instead of forcing it there. The underarm is now centered to the actual shoulder line. Because of this change, I did not need to add short rows to the fronts.
I reknit the bottom hems multiple times trying to get a nice tubular bind off. Finally got it the way I wanted. Now if I can get off sleeve island I can call it done!
And please be kind to Lettie. She is not fond of nudie shots!!
PS to Tracey: ETA I wrote it wrong where I said to add the inch!! Corrected now! The front is longer than the back. This sweater front needs extra length along the armhole to go up and over the natural shoulder line.
PS2 to Susan: No, I am no longer playing yarn chicken. I never was apparently! I started sleeve #1 with a partial skein, but thought it was a full skein. Before finishing sleeve one, I started sleeve two to see how long to make them (to equalize the shoulder drop on each side). I have TONS of yarn!! Unfortunately, I ordered an additional skein prior to this realization and spent beaucoup bucks on a skein I do not need. I feel really smart!! Now I have a skein that if sent back wastes a ton of dough on shipping. Whatta dork.
PS3 to Chloe: The longer version had not yet launched and it is REALLY long.
PS4 to Annie: The extra fabric is due to the extra ease in the body. There is some short row shaping which shapes the shoulder and lowers the armhole opening. This does reduce excess fabric but does not eliminate it. The tight sleeves can easily be corrected by using your own measurements and preferred ease around the arm — then use the size sleeve that matches (i.e., one or two sizes bigger). I did this and my sleeves were too tight anyway because of tighter gauge! I am blocking it now and did correct the tight sleeves with blocking. It is drying right now and I really don’t know what it will look like!!
