The Art of Circular Yokes: A Timeless Technique for 15 Modern Sweaters
160
The Art of Circular Yokes: A Timeless Technique for 15 Modern Sweaters
160Hardcover
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Overview
Discover the how yarn and needles become artistic tools when you work on the beautiful canvas of a circular yoke. The timeless technique of knitting sweaters with nearly invisible shaping allows for painterly colorwork, illustrative lace, beautifully chiseled cables, and so much more. Open the pages of The Art of Circular Yokes to find:
• Detailed information on the math behind circular yokes and how to achieve a more customized fit from designer Holli Yeoh. Plus insights into designing your own original patterns.
• Curated collection of 15 stunning circular yoke pullovers and cardigans from some of your favorite designers—including Jenn Steingass, Kate Gagnon Osborn, Jennifer Wood, Andrea Cull, and others.
• Projects that once knit become treasured keepsakes for years to come.
No handknit wardrobe is completely with one of these iconic sweaters. With The Art of Circular Yokes you have everything you need to make an heirloom for your collection.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781632506719 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Penguin Publishing Group |
| Publication date: | 06/11/2019 |
| Pages: | 160 |
| Sales rank: | 673,755 |
| Product dimensions: | 7.90(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.70(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
The Math OF CIRCULAR YOKES
There are many approaches to calculating a circular yoke, and the rules can easily be bent. The patterns in this book give examples of several different approaches, yet they all share the same basic principles. | BY HOLLI YEOH
WHETHER WORKING BOTTOM UP or top down, the same calculations are required. You need to decide on your neckline stitches and determine the lower yoke stitches where the sleeves meet the body and the distance over which you'll work your shaping rounds. Circular yoke sweaters can be worked in the round or flat (sometimes, in the case of cardigans). All references to rounds/rows throughout this section will be stated more simply as rounds, but rows may be substituted.
Basic Yoke Construction
The circular yoke sweater is composed of three cylinders (one for the body and two for the sleeves), plus a funnel for the yoke (FIGURE 1). Where the body and sleeves join — or separate, depending on which direction you're working — there's an underarm span of stitches that are set aside or added to each of those cylinders where they meet.
The yoke is shaped throughout its depth to create a funnel shape. It can be further shaped by raising the back neck so the front sits more comfortably on the wearer. This is achieved by working short-row shaping at the back, adding height to the back of the sweater but not the front. The short-rows can be added anywhere on the back of the yoke, often just below the neckline or below the yoke motif (or both).
Before you begin your calculations, you'll need accurate body measurements and the stitch and round gauges for your chosen yarn and stitch pattern(s).
Body Measurements
Taking accurate body measurements is a two-person job. Take the following measurements (FIGURE 2) over basic undergarments and, at most, a close-fitting T- shirt, while standing straight and looking forward.
Neck Circumference: Measure around the base of the neck, crossing over the prominent bone at the back of the neck and the hollow at the front of the neck. It's easier to place a length of yarn or string around the neck and then measure the yarn.
Cross-Back Width: About halfway between the top of the shoulder and the underarm, beginning and ending directly above the underarm crease, measure across the back. This is the distance between arm-hole seams on a well-fitting T-shirt.
Yoke Depth: Tie a piece of elastic or string around the body just below the armpits (this is shown in the figure with a horizontal broken line). Make sure the arms can be raised above the head and that the string is tied snugly. It should be about 1" (2.5 cm) below where the arm meets the body. Measure from the prominent bone at the back of the neck straight down the back to the string.
Bust Circumference: Measure around the fullest part of the bust, making sure the measuring tape is parallel to the floor and not sagging in the back.
Upper Arm Circumference: Measure around the fullest part of the upper arm.
Gauge
Swatching is a necessity when designing a sweater. Knit a large-enough swatch to get a good sense of the drape and feel of the fabric you're creating with your chosen yarn. Measure the gauge both before and after washing and blocking. Large swatches also give a better representation of the gauge. At a minimum, work a 6" (15 cm) square plus additional edging stitches and rows. If your sweater will be worked in the round, then you need to knit the swatch in the round for accuracy, as working flat versus in the round can affect your gauge (see note on How to Swatch in the Round below). Measure in the center of the swatch, away from the edges, where the stitches tend to be distorted (FIGURE 3). If the sweater contains more than one stitch pattern, they all need to be swatched.
HOW TO SWATCH IN THE ROUND
A shortcut to swatching in the round is to cast on the same number of stitches on a circular needle as you would for a flat swatch. Work garter stitch or moss stitch for a few rows, then work the first right-side round in your stitch pattern with a moss-stitch border at the edges. When you come to the end of the row, don't turn; with the right side facing, slide the stitches back to the other end of the needle. Leaving a large loop of the working yarn running across the back, work another right-side round. Continue in this manner, working only right-side rounds, until the swatch is the desired length. Finish off with more garter stitch or moss stitch and bind off. The edges will be messy, but don't worry about it. You can tidy them as you go or cut the strands and tie them off at the end to make blocking and measuring the swatch easier. If the strands are left long enough for the swatch to lie flat, they don't need to be cut.
If the pre- and post-blocking gauges are different, you'll need to take that change into consideration. Use the blocked gauge for most of your calculations, but in situations where you want to knit to a particular length as opposed to a number of rounds, convert the measurement so you know the unblocked length. For example, imagine your unblocked gauge is 7.5 rnds/inch (3 rnds/cm) and the blocked gauge is 7 rnds/inch (2.8 rnds/cm). You want to have a 15" (38 cm) body length (from hem to armhole). Multiply that length by the blocked round gauge and then divide it by the unblocked round gauge to get the actual measurement to knit.
IMPERIAL
15" × 7 rnds/inch = 105 rnds
105 rnds ÷ 7.5 rnds/inch = 14"
METRIC
38 cm × 2.8 rnds/cm = 106.4 rnds = 106 rnds
106 rnds ÷ 3 rnds/cm = 35.3 cm
In this example, you would knit until your body length measures 14" (35.5 cm), since the yarn is unblocked when you're measuring it; after you finish and block the sweater, it will grow to the desired 15" (38 cm).
You'll note that doing the math with metric versus imperial measurements resulted in a slightly different number of rounds (106 versus 105). This is because knitters specify gauge in blocks of 4" (10 cm), but 4" isn't precisely equal to 10 cm. If we were designing high-precision equipment, this might present a problem, but knitting is inherently flexible and forgiving, and if you calculate 1 more or 1 fewer round than someone from a different country might, no one's going to notice, and the sweater is still going to fit.
Design Decisions
EASE
Ease is the difference between the measurements of the wearer's body and the finished measurements of a garment. The finished sweater can be larger than, the same size as, or smaller than the body measurements. These are referred to as positive ease, zero ease, and negative ease, respectively.
There are two kinds of ease that need to be taken into account when designing a sweater. Wearing ease is the minimum ease needed for comfort. For example, a tight sleeve with negative ease wouldn't be very comfortable, especially through the elbow, so even though a sweater with negative ease through the bust can be attractive, some positive ease is probably desired in the sleeve. Design ease is the ease required to create a particular silhouette, such as puffed sleeves or an A-line shape.
NECK TREATMENT
The neckline of a sweater is the line around the neck opening before any neck finishing is worked. The neck finishing is the trim or edging applied to the neckline, such as ribbing, a turtleneck, or a rolled edge. It's not completely necessary to have a neck finishing; this would be a design decision. The neck finishing will most likely impact both the yoke depth and the neckline circumference, so decisions should be made before calculating the yoke shaping.
The Math
With basic measurements, gauge in hand, and the design decisions made, the next step is to determine the stitch and round counts. This is done by combining body measurements and ease, then multiplying by gauge. The next few pages explain the calculations to make, followed by examples showing you the math. The accompanying figures give you the same formulas without any sample math.
The math doesn't always work out to be perfect whole numbers. There will be many instances where you'll need to round to the nearest whole number, or possibly the nearest even or odd number. To make it work with a stitch pattern, you'll need to round to the pattern repeat number. For example, imagine you have 38" × 5 sts/inch = 190 sts (for those of you working in metric, that would be 95 cm x 2 sts/cm = 190 sts), but the stitch pattern has a 6-stitch pattern repeat. So the actual number will need to be 186 sts or 192 sts, depending on which works best with your design and other calculations. This is where you, the designer, step in to make decisions.
Regardless of the direction of knitting, the calculations are the same, and the shaping will either add or eliminate stitches to create the desired shape. The example numbers provided in the calculations in this section are for a round-neck sweater to fit a 36" (91.5 cm) bust with 2" (5 cm) positive ease at a gauge of 20 sts and 28 rnds = 4" (10 cm), i.e., 5 sts and 7 rnds per inch (2 sts and 2.8 rnds per cm).
Note that the body and sleeve cylinders are not discussed here, other than determining their circumference where they join the yoke.
MEASUREMENTS
These are the basic measurements that are key to calculating the circular yoke. Remember, the numbers and calculations given below are just for the purpose of giving an example — they're not universal.
Bust Circumference = 36" (91.5 cm)
Cross-Back Width = 14¾" (37.5 cm)
Neck Circumference = 14½" (37 cm)
Upper Arm Circumference = 11" (28 cm)
Yoke Depth = 7" (19.5 cm)
DESIGN DECISIONS
There are more design decisions that can be made than the ones listed below, but the following are essential.
Body Ease = 2" (5 cm)
Sleeve Ease = 1" (2.5 cm)
Neck Ease = 0" (0 cm)
Neck Edging = 1" (2.5 cm)
Front Neck Drop = 1½" (3.8 cm)
Yoke Depth Ease = 0" (0 cm)
STITCH COUNTS
Circumference and width stitch counts are determined by adding together the body measurement and ease and then multiplying by the stitch gauge. Refer to FIGURE 4 (page 12) as you read the next sections.
Body and Sleeve Stitches
IMPERIAL
(A) Bust sts = (Bust Circumference + Body Ease) × st gauge = (36"+ 2") × 5 sts = 190 sts
(B) Sleeve sts = (Upper Arm Circumference + Sleeve Ease) × st gauge = (11" + 1") × 5 sts = 60 sts
METRIC
(A) Bust sts = (Bust Circumference + Body Ease) × st gauge = (91.5 cm + 5 cm) × 2 sts = 193 sts
(B) Sleeve sts = (Upper Arm Circumference + Sleeve Ease) × st gauge = (28 cm + 2.5 cm) × 2 sts = 61 sts
Underarm Stitches
The underarm span is about 35–50% of the difference between the sweater width and the cross-back width, with the greater percentage used for the smaller sizes. The remaining stitches that are the difference between the sweater width and the cross-back width can be used in a short section of raglan shaping on each side of the underarm span, if desired. The raglan shaping helps distribute the yoke shaping and provides a better fit through the underarm area, but is entirely optional. If raglan shaping is included, it can also be worked over fewer sts (it's not necessary to use the full amount of Raglan Shaping stitches as calculated below).
(C) Bust Width = Bust sts ÷ 2 = 190 sts ÷ 2 = 95 sts
ORDER OF OPERATIONS IN A MATH EQUATION
If you recall your grade-school math, some operations in an equation take precedence over others. Compute the numbers inside brackets first, then parentheses, followed by multiplication and division, and finally addition and subtraction.
IMPERIAL
Cross-Back sts = Cross-Back Width × st gauge = 14¾" × 5 sts = 73.75 sts (if bust width is odd/even, round to nearest odd/even number) = 73 sts
METRIC
Cross-Back sts = Cross-Back Width × st gauge = 37.5 cm × 2 sts = 75 sts
(D) Underarm Span sts = (Bust Width – Cross-Back sts) ÷ 2 = (95 sts – 73 sts) ÷ 2 = 11 sts
(E) Lower Yoke Circumference (around sleeves and body) = Bust sts + (2 × Sleeve sts) – (4 × Underarm Span) = 190 sts + (2 × 60 sts) – (4 × 11 sts) = 266 sts
(F) Raglan Shaping sts (optional) = 2 × Underarm Span = 2 × 11 sts = 22 sts (round up or down to a number divisible by 8) = 16 or 24 sts
Stitch Distribution for Raglan Markers
If the optional raglan shaping is included, the following calculations determine how many stitches fall between the sleeve and body markers, both at the wide end and the narrow end of the raglan shaping. Each section of raglan shaping is like a triangular wedge between sleeve and body sts, increasing (if you're working top down) or decreasing (if you're working bottom up) additional stitches.
(G) Lower Front/Back Width sts = Bust sts – [Underarm Span × 2]) ÷ 2 = (190 sts – [11 sts × 2]) ÷ 2 = 84 sts
(H) Lower Sleeve sts = Sleeve sts – Underarm Span = 60 sts – 11 sts = 49 sts
To Confirm Lower Total Stitch Count = (2 × Lower Front/Back Width sts) + (2 × Lower Sleeve sts) = (2 × 84) + (2 × 49 sts) = 266 sts (same st count as Lower Yoke Circumference)
(I) Upper Front/Back Width sts = Lower Front/Back Width sts – (Raglan Shaping sts ÷ 4) = 84 sts – (24 sts ÷ 4) = 78 sts
(J) Upper Sleeve sts = Lower Sleeve sts – (Raglan Shaping sts ÷ 4) = 49 sts – (24 sts ÷ 4) = 43 sts
(K) Upper Total Stitch Count = (2 × Upper Front/Back Width sts) + (2 × Upper Sleeve sts) = (2 × 78) + (2 × 43 sts) = 242 sts
Neckline Stitches
The neckline circumference is the upper edge of the sweater, excluding any neck edging. The neck circumference is the circumference of the finished edging at its top edge. For round neck designs, the neck circumference is usually a smaller circle inside the slightly larger circle of the neckline circumference. Neckline circumference is therefore calculated by determining the radius of the desired neck circumference, adding the depth of the neck edging, then using the old high-school formula C = 2?r to determine the circumference without edging, and finally multiplying it by the stitch gauge.
IMPERIAL
Neck Circumference = (Neck Circumference + Neck Ease) × st gauge = (14½" + 0") × 5 sts = 71.25 sts (round to a whole number) = 71 sts
Neckline Circumference = (Neck Circumference ÷ [??] ÷ 2 + Neck Edging) × [??] × 2 = (14½" ÷ 3.14 ÷ 2 + 1") × 3.14 × 2 = 20.78"
(L) Neckline sts = Neckline Circumference × st gauge = 20.78" × 5 sts = 103.9 sts (round to a whole number) = 104 sts
METRIC
Neck Circumference = (Neck Circumference + Neck Ease) × st gauge = (37 cm + 0 cm) × 2 sts = 73 sts
Neckline Circumference = (Neck Circumference ÷ [??] ÷ 2 + Neck Edging) × [??] × 2 = (37 cm ÷ 3.14 ÷ 2 + 2.5 cm) × 3.14 × 2 = 52.7 cm
(L) Neckline sts = Neckline Circumference × st gauge = 52.7 cm × 2 sts = 105.4 sts (round to a whole number) = 105 sts
In situations where the neck finishing will stand up from the neckline, such as a vertical collar or turtleneck, the neckline is often the same circumference as the neck circumference (including any desired ease).
Shaping Stitches
The total number of stitches to be either increased or decreased when shaping the yoke is the difference between the lower yoke circumference and the neckline circumference. If raglan shaping is used, then these stitches should also be subtracted.
(M) Total Yoke Shaping sts = Lower Yoke Circumference – Neckline sts – Raglan Shaping sts = 266 sts – 104 sts – 24 sts = 138 sts
Short-Row Shaping Stitches
If short-rows are used to raise the back neckline, they need to run the whole width of the back yoke and taper around the front. The short-row closest to the neck should use half of the yoke sts in that round. The lowest short-row should leave about ¼ to 1/6 of the front stitches untouched. If the resulting intervals between short-row turns are fewer than 2 stitches, consider splitting the short-rows into two groups. The Shaping Interval is the number of stitches between the end of each short-row and the previous short-row.
(Continues…)
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Table of Contents
Introduction,
The Math of Circular Yokes | HOLLI YEOH,
The Patterns,
DIAMOND | SARAH REDMOND,
STRIKE | K.M. BEDIGAN,
ALTHEDA | JENN STEINGASS,
EMERGE | ANDREA CULL,
FROSTY FLOWERS | JENISE HOPE,
MORRIS | JENNIFER WOOD,
LACE COLUMNS | AMY GUNDERSON,
TWILL | HOLLI YEOH,
SASHIKO | MONA ZILLAH,
L'HEURE VERTE | JENNIFER DASSAU,
SCALLOPS | MONE DRäGER,
NONPAREIL | KATE GAGNON OSBORN,
DOVER | MARGARET HOLZMANN,
SIGRÍÐUR | PAULA PEREIRA,
MODERN ART | STELLA EGIDI,
Abbreviations,
Glossary,
About the Designers,
Yarn Sources,