KNITTING A TOP DOWN RAGLAN

Top down? Nope. No thanks. This is what I thought when I was just dipping my toes into making a sweater. As a knitter it took me forever to get to knitting a top down sweater and I think it’s because I didn’t understand it. So I’m here to break it down for you so it’s not as stressful, and you can have an idea of how a raglan is worked!

HOW ARE MOST SWEATERS CONSTRUCTED?

Knitting a sweater sounds scary until you start to break it down.

SEAMED: On a seamed sweater, you’ll find 2 squares (one front panel and one back panel for your body), and two rectangles (one for each sleeve). You seam the top together across the shoulders and leave a gap for the head to poke through. Once that’s done you’ll stitch up the sides, leaving gaps for the arms to fit in and be attached. Lastly the rectangles are folded length wise in half, seamed up from “wrist to armpit” and then attached into the holes left on the body. Not too scary come to think of it hey?

A top down though? A little different. Essentially you start knitting a round tube where your head will emerge - Think like a cowl. You’ll keep increasing every round or two so that it gets wider and wider and finally drapes over and cover your shoulders - kind of like a caplet. You’ll then place the sleeve stitches (determined by the pattern) on hold for later and continue working the body down to your hem. After you’ll pick up those sleeve and work them in the round down to the cuff. A BIG advantage of the top down sweaters is that you can try it on a lot during the process to make sure it fits, as well as try on for length. Unlike the seamed where you have to finish it completely, seam it all and then find out it doesn’t fit.

So what’s a top down raglan vs a top down “yoke”?

A raglan is essentially where there is 4 lines that divide your sweater into 4 quadrants (front, back and two arms). Imagine a little league baseball tee, where the sleeves are a different color than the body, and an angled line goes down from the collar to the armpit. This is the raglan style and these lines are actually made by increases in your raglan! Mathematically raglans either increase every 2 rounds, or every round (depending on the knit or crochet) pattern you’re following. The make up of the sleeves, front and back panels are determined immediately in the cast on of the design to create that angled line. In a yoke you will only have a few increase rounds in total, with a lot of increases in each increase round, but a lot of plain knitting in-between those rounds. Yokes don’t create diagonal lines.

This is my Syngonium Sweater which is a top down raglan. See those lines? Get the pattern HERE

Check out more of my knitting patterns HERE.

Pin this pattern to your Pinterest boards for later HERE.
Add this pattern to your Ravelry queue HERE.
PURCHASE THIS AS A KIT ON LION BRAND HERE.

Does that make sense? if not feel free to always pop a comment at the bottom. I am happy to help!

INTRODUCING THE BEGINNER RAGLAN LITE

Wanting to try a beginner friendly raglan now that you’ve read the above? I’ve got you. You can now find the #BeginnerRaglanLITE in my Ravelry and Etsy shops, as well as a kit on LionBrand.com. It’s a sister to my original #MyBeginnerRaglan which is a super bulky, squishy fun knit that’s also perfect for the beginner knitter wanting to delve into sweater knitting.

DETAILS

Classic garter and the cutest eyelet increase details, the Beginner Raglan LITE is sure to become a staple in your wardrobe. Knit like the original My Beginner Raglan, this pattern has now been adapted for a worsted weight yarn, making it perfect for a lighter weight sweater with the same gorgeous style and skill level. This sweater has 0.5-2.5" of negative ease built in. For choosing your size, take a peek at page 5 & 6. Knit top down, in the round, and seamlessly, this pattern is written in 9 sizes – XS (S, M, L, XL) (2XL, 3XL, 4XL, 5XL).

SKILL LEVEL:

ADVANCED BEGINNER. You will need to know how to cast on, knit and purl in the round, increase and decrease, bind off.

MATERIALS

•4 (XS), 5 (S, M, L), 6 (XL, 2XL), 7 (3XL), 8 (4XL), 9 (5XL) skeins of Lion Brand Touch of Cashmere or 969yards/886meters to 1971yards/1802meters of size 4 worsted weight yarn •Size US 9/5.5 mm knitting 16”/40cm circular needles •Size US 9/5.5 mm knitting needles 24”/60cm circular needles

Find tester yarn subs and their yardages below.

SIZES

XS – 28-30” bust

S – 32-34” bust

M – 36-38” bust

L – 40-42” bust

XL – 44-46” bust

2XL – 48-50” bust

3XL – 52-54” bust

4XL – 56-58” bust

5XL – 60-62” bust

TESTER YARN SUBS AND YARDAGES

Lion Brand Feels Like Butta, Lion Brand Touch of Cashmere, Lion Brand Heartland, Lion Brand Jeans, Lion Brand Pound of Love, Lion Brand Collection Cotton, Cascade yarns Pacific, Red heart Soft, Premier Every Day Worsted, Impeccable by Loops and Threads, Malabrigo Rios, Katia Concept Lagom, Bernat Premium

Tester yardages

XS: 700-780

S: 860-941

M: 941-970

L: 1020-1095

XL: 1070-1195

2XL: 1180-1310

3XL: Confirming yardage

4XL: Not tested (if you would like to test it for me - please reach out to knitatude@gmail.com)

5XL: Not tested (if you would like to test it for me - please reach out to knitatude@gmail.com)

TESTERS USED:

Lion Brand Heartland

Lion Brand Cotton Jeans LB Collection

Lion Brand Jeans

Lion Brand Pound of Love

Lion Brand Feels Like Butta

Lion Brand Touch of Cashmere

Cascade 220 Superwash merino

Bernat Premium

Cascade Yarns Pacific

Impeccable by loops and Threads

Katia Concept Lagom

Malabrigo Rios

Premier Everyday Worsted

Red Heart Dreamy

Red Heart Soft

POLICIES

This pattern is a copyright of Chantal Miyagishima of Knitatude. Beginner Raglan LITE sweaters created using this pattern may be sold in small quantities (less than 10 total) with written consent first given by Chantal Miyagishima of Knitatude. Credit must be given to Knitatude / knitatude.etsy.com. Pattern and photos can not be used for resale purposes.

Please share your work with the hashtag #BeginnerRaglanLITE and #knitatudeknits to share the handmade love!