A Short Course In Sweater Design

Pat Kirtland

knitfomation chart

This is a form I came up with many years ago when doing a lot of custom knitting. I've found over the years that the records kept on these forms and the swatches kept with the forms have been a great help as a reference guide. Some of these measurements may not seem to be necessary, but if you get them all when you have the person there to measure, it will save time in having them come back in at a later date if you question some part of the design and whether it will fit. Usually this is whether it will go over the head or whether a hand will fit into the sleeve cuff [this can be a problem especially with children]. All these measurements are actual, no ease added.

Head--widest point--mostly so sweater can go over head without tearing off ears! Or the diameter a hat needs to be.
Shoulder--this is measured on a straight line from where the joint pivots. Usually if you poke with your finger, it is where it hurts. The line at which the seams need to be on a set in sleeve.
Chest--widest point
Hip--widest point--widest place can vary a lot depending on how padding is deposited. If making a skirt, also note the distance between this widest point and the waist.
Upper arm--widest point--sometimes I also measure the widest point on lower arm in case the sleeve is really fitted and you want to make sure there is enough ease in the elbow area.
Fist--make into ball and measure circumference--how most kids are going to put a sweater on unless it is stranded fairisle.
Length from neck bone to final length of garment.
Length from under armpit to final length of garment--sometimes I will also put a knitting needle under arm and measure from the top of the shoulder joint to the needle to determine the armhole depth.
Sleeve length from underarm with arm at side, slightly bent at elbow.

I have also learned since designing this chart to measure from the neck bone in center of neck to the wrist. This is the best measurement to determine the length of sleeves in a drop sleeve--some people also take this measurement with the arm down at side.

Designing a Drop Sleeve Sweater -- The Simplest Design

I'm going to do this using my measurements and try to walk you through the process. Using worsted weight yarn at 5 sts per inch. With worsted yarn I like 3" of ease. After a while, you will get a feel for what kind of ease you are comfortable wearing. Sometimes you can base on a comfortable sweater. But go through the process every time because yarns, styles and times change, as does body weight and distribution of body weight.

My chest measurement is 49", add 3" of ease. My sweaters need to measure 52" when done. 52 X 5 stitches per inch = 260 sts. I usually knit a 2 1/2" ribbing and my ribbing is fairly tight, so I do not adjust the number of stitches I cast on. If working circular, I cast on 260 sts. If working flat, I cast on 130 sts.

Round Neck

For a round neck, normally the drop for a neck is 2 1/2-3". If done on circular needles, I would knit to the under arm depth--I like 15" split front from back. Continue the back until the length is equal to the length of sweater you want--for me 25". On front stitches, I would work armhole depth of 7", I got this from the final length of 25"-3" = neck placement at 22" or 15" + 7"= 22".

I use a shoulder measurement of 15", and allocate 4" for top of each shoulder and 7" for neck. 7"X 5 sts per inch means the neck needs 35 sts. I allocate 4" worth for front of neck--x 5 sts per inch for 20 sts. Since 35 sts is an odd number, I'm going to round up the neck one stitch to 21 sts. 35 sts- 21 sts =14 sts that I'm going to divide by 2 because I need to shape both sides of neck. 7 sts. These seven stitches can be decreased out any way that you want depending mostly on style. I usually bind off 3 once, 2 once, and 1 sts twice--on each side

V-Neck

Most V necks start at the same point as the armhole, occasionally slightly below. Since we have 35 sts, the center stitch can be placed on a holder and used as a design element when doing the ribbing. That means that we have 14 stitches on each side of the center stitch to decrease away. For some reason this works on everything--at least everything that I have tried. Decrease at neck edge every third row.

Shoulders and Sleeves

Usually I use a 3 needle bind off on shoulders to eliminate bulk--at least that's what I tell people. Mostly I don't like finishing and this is a great way to finish the shoulders off. Most drop sleeve sweaters have a 10" underarm to shoulder length. This works for me. My upper arm measures 16" and I find that if I pick up the stitches and work from top down to cuff, I don't have a binding seam at an awkward place on arm--from the seam that you would have from a bottom up sleeve. So, 10" from the back and 10" from the front = 20" that needs stitches picked up on, times 5 stitches to the inch, I need to pick up 100 sts.

To determine the number of stitches you need in the cuff, place the bottom ribbing around fist and count the number of stitches you need for the ribbing at bottom. For me this is 36-40 stitches. So, I need to decrease from 100 stitches down to 40 stitches. 60 stitches and as I will decrease on either side of the center point under the arm, I need to do 30 rows of decreasing. My measurement from neck bone to wrist is 29". Half of the back measurement is 13". 29"-13"= 16" sleeve. 2 1/2"will be ribbing. So, I have 13.5" to decrease 30 times. Usually my row gauge at 5 sts per inch is 7 rows per inch. 7 X 13.5= 94.5 rows of knitting. If you divide 30 into that you can see that I need to decrease every 3rd row. If you have stitches left over they can be decreased out on last row before cuff.

I don't like drop sleeves and prefer a modified version. My Cables and Squares and Santa designs are based on a very deep modification. Visually I want the seam to be at the shoulder. So, the back above the armhole needs to be 15" wide times 5 sts per inch or 75 stitches and I'm going to round down to 74 sts. I have 130 stitches on back - 74 sts =56 sts and I need to divide by 2 for each armhole =** 28 sts.** If doing round, bind off 56 sts, knit 74 for back, bind off 56 sts and knit 74 sts for front. I usually join another ball of yarn and knit the back and front at the same time. Neck shaping remains the same. The big change comes at the sleeve. We still need that 29" length from center back of neck. But now the back is half of 15". 29"- 7.5"= 21.5". Take off the cuff and the sleeve is 19" to do those 30 decrease rows. 19" X 7 rows per inch=133 rows. Divided by 30 = 4.43 rows. I would probably decide to decrease every 4th row. 4 X 30= 120 rows. So when I picked up the stitches for the sleeves I would work 13 rows then start decreasing. On this technique, you need to work the sleeve flat as the top edges of the side of the sleeves are sown to the underarm bind offs. There is a way around this, if you need to know send me an email as it doesn't affect the number crunching that needs to happen.

Neck Ribbing

For neck ribbing, best to put bottom ribbing around head and count how many stitches you need. However, after a while I observed that the number is usually close to the number of stitches needed for the back. Maybe I have a fat head! So, I just use that number of stitches. For a V neck, I still use the 3 stitches picked up for every 4th row--and count to make sure that number exceeds the number cast on at bottom of sweater.

Cardigans and Shaping

For cardigan, I just split the numbers for the front. Usually buttonband treatment will add the extra room needed for front. Since I am more of a cylinder than an hourglass I don't have a need to add bust darts or other shapings. I have once in a while added some waist shaping--not that there is any there but just enough to take some of the fullness out at the waist on vests or as a design element if the sweater is longer and when I was more hour glass shaped.

Designing a Set In Sleeve

For simplicity I will use same gauge as above.

Up to the armholes is the same. Then, across the upper back, I want width to be 15" X 5 sts per inch minus the odd stitch. This means I now have 28 sts. If you need to see the figures go to the ** ** a couple paragraphs back. Neck shaping remain the same. Need to do that under arm shaping and we have 28 sts to play with. And folks I guess here. I would do 14 sts once, 5 sts once, 3 sts once, 2 sts once and 1 stitch 4 times to = 28 sts at EACH armhole. If I had to rationalize this, I would say I did half the stitches at one time and figured the rest as taking about 2" to accomplish. On a set in sleeve I use an armhole depth of 8.5" and as I am slightly hunched back, I do figure some short rows across the back, working them about 1 1/2" from armhole edge. So, roughly 2" of the armhole depth is shaping and the rest is straight. I usually use shoulder shaping dividing the stitches in 3 rds. 4" X 5 stitches per inch is 20 sts divided by 3= 6 plus 2 stitches left. So I would bind off 6, 7, 7 stitches to shape the shoulder.

Front is the same as back and neck shaping as on drop sleeve.

To do a set in sleeve, I figure the width of arm plus 3", in my case this totals 19" times 5 sts per inch = 95 sts that I will round up to 96 sts. This time I will use my sleeve length to the underarm which is 18" minus the 2 1/2" cuff is 15.5" times the row gauge. 15.5" X 7 rows = 108.5 rows. I almost always start with a 40 stitch cuff. I need to get to 96 sts. 96 - 40 = 56 stitches that I need to increase and as they are done in pairs, I need 28 row to do this. I have 108 rows to do this. 108 divided by 28 = 3.86. For me, I would increase every third row. Reasons, my arms start getting large about 6" from the wrist. So I can use the width in the elbow area and they are large all the way up. If I increase every 3rd row, it will take 84 rows. I will have 24 rows with no shaping--this is about 3.5". And looking at my arms, there is no shape there but BIG. so....

I shape the armhole same as sweater. That is bind off 14 stitches twice, 5 stitches twice, 3 sts twice, 2 sts twice, then I decrease 1 st each side of cap every other row until 4" of stitches left. 4" X 5 sts per inch = 20 stitches. Cap will be about 6"-6.5" deep. I like cap to be about 2-2.5" less than depth of the armhole.

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