help with shoulder seam

Hi Laura,

Sorry I can't help with this as I don't remember how I did it many years ago, but it was the first and last that I made like that.

Hugs,

Nora

Match the neck and arm edges. If the bound off rows are the same number of stitches on the front and back, match the ends of these rows. The ribs should match at the shoulder seams, if so just match the ribbing. If it doesn't match then guesstimate the amount of extra stitches on the front and evenly distribute the extra between the neck and armhole edges. You could also run a length of contrasting thread along the bound of edge of the front and gather the width to match the back. Finish the seam with either back stitch or slip stitch crochet. DA

In order , not to have steps , i advice you , to knit short rows when making the shoulders, than KNIT the whole shoulder again ,,this will straighten the Stepping og the shoulders,,,,, Having more stiches in the front ? if it is meant by the pattern , they should have provided you with an idea waht to do if not [either they had no instructions , or it `happened` to you ,,,, attach the shoulder sides with a plain sewing thread put it on and go look in the mirror , maybe you can moove the extra stiches to the front , maybe make a sjoulder Fold [several years ago thay were in the trend] When joining, try to imitate knit stiches , take thread come in under the knit stich or over the purl st. go up to other side of shoulder and imitate the stich wall there etc... LOOK at the stiches with magnifying glass ,,, mirjam

Hi Laura, I'm catching up and just saw your post - you may already have finished this work. In case you haven't, here's a suggestion: Try treating it as if it is fabric that you're sewing. Pin the outer edges, and then take the center of each side and pin there. Then find the centers of each of those and pin. You should have have 4 relatively short sections, and can kind of gently stretch the shorter side to fit the longer one and pin to hold that easing. (does this make sense?) I would also try to match the ribbing where possible. You will need to make sure you don't end up with puckers, although you might be able to take those out with VERY gentle blocking.

This is how I've solved the problem, but I'm not the expert knitter as are many of the folks in this ng, so their advice might serve you better. Good luck!

Hugz, Susan K

Sounds like a good method to me, although I hate sewing in sleeves and if I can start at the top and work down I'll do that sooner than sew anything together. Love & higs Christine

Thanks everyone, for your advice! I took a little from each of you and used what was in my books to make something up. Doesn't look perfect but hey, it's my first sweater and it wasn't an easy situation so it'll have to do. When I first read the pattern, I didn't realize what an awful situation it was setting me up for - yes, the pattern is specifically written so that the # of stitches doesn't match front to back and neither do the # of ribs and the steps on top of all that just made it more difficult. But I'm not experienced enough to know how to change patterns yet so I just had to do what they told me to do! Has anyone had this problem with Jaeger patterns before?

Now I am dreading sewing the sleeves in. I'll probably be back in a couple of days with questions on that!

Oh, you know one thing that I never did find a picture or explanation of in any of my books is the process of joining pieces at the cast-off edges when they are both reverse stockinette. I used the weaving method for normal stockinette but just made something up when I got to the purl stitches. So if anyone knows of somewhere on the web to see a picture or read an explanation of this, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks!

LauraJ

Laura, Jaeger patterns are usually well written. The pattern book should give you the name of the designer. Ribs or other vertical patterns should continue over the shoulders and down the back. IMHO, this is a design flaw or poor planning on the part of the designer, and I would avoid their patterns in the future.

This page has great illustrations on mattress stitch for both knitted and purled fabric. Good luck on your sleeves DA

Hm, now I am beginning to wonder whether part of what I thought was the shoulder on the front piece (the side with the "extra" stitches) is actually supposed to be the neck. I should have taken a picture before I seamed it up. ARGH!

Okay, you inspired me to go back and look at the picture (which I should have done before I began seaming - doh!). This is the jacket in question:

is hard to tell from that size but if I look at the giant picture in my book the ribs definitely don't match up on the man's shoulder. But if you look at the woman's version, see those ribs that are swooshing out of the cable to the neck on hers? They swoosh into the shoulder on mine (but my cable is also higher up because I'm shorter).Now I don't know whether to doubt the pattern or doubt myself! This isn't supposed to be so difficult, is it?!? LauraJ

Thanks for the link to the pics. Since you can't see the back of the sweaters in the pics, is the back knit with just plain ribbing with out the twist? The pictures gives that impression. The knit stitches are matched at the shoulder edge in the picture and then it looks like the next group of knit stitches on the front are matched to a purl section on the back, and the third group from the front are again matched to knit stitches from the back. The schematic shows the back as being straight across, which leads me to ask if you left enough stitches on the front for the neck opening. There should be the same number of stitches on each side of the neck opening on the front and back. Before you doubt a pattern, make sure that you have read it correctly including studying the schematic. DA

Thanks for trying to help, DA. To answer your question, yes, the back is just plain rib without the cable. But the schematic on that page is different from the one in the actual pattern. The actual back has a rounded neck, it is not straight across. Well, there are 18 stitches across the middle of the back that are straight and then the shoulder stitches (with their steps) are up higher. There is about a 2 to 3 ratio of stitches on each shoulder for the back and front pieces (on my actual piece). I counted the ribs on the back and front of the man's sweater in the picture and it is a similar 2 to 3 ratio.

The only thing I'm really concerned about at this point is whether the ribs coming out of the cable are supposed to go into the neckline (like the picture) or into the shoulder (which is how I did mine). But I tried the piece on and it seems like there is more than enough room for the front of the neck. I think if the front neckline were any longer it would make the front fit strangely.

I'm confused about your statement "There should be the same number of stitches on each side of the neck opening on the front and back." So are you saying that if there are 24 stitches on each front for the neck opening that there should be 48 in the back? That makes sense to me logically but the pattern has me picking up 24 stitches on one front side, 24 across the back and then 24 on the other side. So it seems like the back opening should be about the same size as each of the fronts (which it is). I'm going to try picking up those stitches and start up the collar and see how it ends up looking. I'd rather take out knitting than start by taking out the seam I already did!

Thanks for all your input - I really appreciate it!

LauraJ

You already said that you shortened the pattern at the top, the ribs are supposed to go into the neckline and not the shoulder seam. You should have bound off some of the rib/cable pattern in the neck shaping. The next time you shorten a pattern, try removing the extra length before the armhole shaping or at the bottom of the pattern. With this pattern, I would have removed the extra length below the first cable twist.

You are welcome, and I hope that I have helped a little DA

Oh sorry, I must not have been clear - I didn't shorten the pattern at all. I followed the directions for the size I was doing exactly. It just ended up shorter than in the picture, for whatever reason.

Yes, you definitely got me thinking of different possibilities. Luckily I've concluded that the way I did it in the first place will work fine (have now picked up the stitches and finished the neck and done all the seaming except for attaching the sleeves) so I don't have to do any ripping!

LauraJ