Earlier this year, I made M a small dress using Barbara Walker’s continuos set-in sleeve approach and it was clear to me that I needed to experiment even more with this approach. It is a bit fiddly to start with as you basically knit the shoulder shaping first in bits and pieces using short rows and picking up stitches, but once the shoulders are in place and stitches are picked up for the top of the sleeve cap, the sleeve are knitted continuos with the main body. I like this more then the contiguous method which has come about the last couple of years ago, as there the shoulder shaping is very steep and the sleeve caps can be very pointy. I come from a family with “swimmer” shoulders, straight and square, and just like raglan not being my best friend, contiguous isn’t either. I think it works really well with a saddle shoulder but not so well otherwise. I think what I mean can be best seen from the two projects below
Contiguous, too pointy for my taste….
Contiguous, saddle approach, nice shoulder….
So now continuous does have the disadvantage that there are a quite a number of threads that need to be weaved in as the shoulders are knitted in bits and pieces, but after that, it works really nice and neat. I do like the short row approach for set-in sleeves, but I do think that for patterns, in this case stripes, this method is really very very neat….
And the yarn, it is Quince & Co Owl tweet, a rustic wool-alpaca blend. Way too warm for spring knitting, but oh so comfy for just any time of the year knitting….
Love how that yarn shines and changes slightly with every stitch!
ReplyDeleteThank you, the yarn is actually not as shiny as it shows in the pictures, but it does vary very nicely. It is lovely stuff
DeleteInteresting thoughts on shoulder shaping. If the contiguous shoulder is too pointy, yet very steep, I wonder what kind of body shape it would fit?
ReplyDeleteI don't have a lot of experience with shoulder shaping, because I've only knit sweaters and cardigans for my daughter. My two sad attempts at knitting for myself had to be frogged, because of, uh, no(-t enough) swatcing. I've also got rather square shoulders, but always thought raglan shaping would work. I'll keep an eye on the shoulder shaping on patterns from now on!
Love the yarn in your current project!
Thanks!
DeleteFor me raglan shoulders can make me look like a line-backer.... which is why I really like set-in sleeves. I do think that contiguous can work really well for someone with round or narrow shoulders, but it is not me....
look up fit to flatter, as there are some nice thoughts on bodyform and what suits best for different shapes of bodies.