Like many crafters, I can struggle to get a good fit on my home-made sweaters.
Sweater yokes I have designed from scratch are a particular challenge, so I have put together a sweater yoke calculator to help.
Sweaters Are Tricky
When you have a sweater yoke (the circle of knit or crochet fabric which will go over your head and over your shoulders, upper back and upper bust) and you’re ready to split up the stitches to focus on making the body and the sleeves, it’s not a simple question of quartering the number and knitting merrily onward.
If you use an equal number of stitches for the front, back and each sleeve, you’ll end up with a body that’s too narrow and sleeves that billow and buckle.
Practice Makes Perfect, But a Calculator Helps!
I have made many sweater yokes over the years with too many stitches, or not enough rows, and each new make has seen me refine my maths and fiddle with my technique to the point where now, I have it down to a tee.
I transferred my own calculations from the back of an envelope into a handy sweater yoke calculator.
To use it, count your yoke stitches, feed that number into the calculator, and you’ll know exactly how many stitches you need to section off for your sleeves, for your front and for your back.
Give it a go!
One thing to note:
This calculator may occasionally be off by one stitch in its final result. It’s not that you miscounted anything.
It’s a product of fractions being rounded up and down to the next full number. Please take care to count your separated stitches and correct this small error before you begin knitting or crocheting again.
If you’d like a bit of guidance and a little extra fitting advice to accommodate broad shoulders, large busts and wide upper arms, click here for a helpful tutorial.
Ooh, thanks Aoibhe I’m sure this is going to come in really handy…when I get my crafting mojo back!
I use it all the time, myself.
I hope it comes in useful for you, too, Janie!
Hi Aoibhi. This is wonderful. I often wondered why we didn’t apply more stitches to the front. You have done it! Am I right to assume that your yoke calculator works for knitting as well as Tunisian crochet ?
Also do you know of any good references for figuring the yoke increases and length. I’ll be using this calculator in the next few days.
I’ve no references beyond my own experience, Kimberly, I’m sorry.
But I’m delighted the calculator has proven useful!
And yes, it works for everything, you just have to be aware of the differing proportions of each craft, and account for that accordingly.