Nihon Vogue Year Two Project-Raglan

The raglan. A popular, classic design.

Most raglan's knit today are done in the round, from the top down. Done in this manner it is convenient because you can try the garment on as you go along and there is virtually no seaming.

This Nihon Vogue raglan for year two is not done in this way. It is a very complex, geometrical way to design a raglan. I learned a lot and I also learned that I may not want to do a raglan of this type again. I did a post on the more technical side of this design in this post.

The upside is learning something new. Supposedly by designing a raglan in this way it will fit better. There isn't as much gapping in the armpit area.

The downside you need to be very exacting and accurate in your knitting. This design is knit in pieces.

There is a good amount of calculation. In addition, I found that you must chart the decreases on a spreadsheet. You MUST do the front/back/sleeve decreases EXACTLY on the same rows. If you don't, when you seam your pieces together the patterns won't match/line up.

I even had to re-knit my sleeves. Ok, I didn't have to re-knit the whole sleeve. I had finished my pieces and Jean was showing me how to sew it up, I realized I had an extra stitch when I began the decreases for the sleeve cap. I asked her, "Can't we just fudge this in?". No. She kind of gave me this look and I knew right then and there what the answer was before she uttered a word. It must be right! So...I undid the sleeve cap portion of both sleeves so my numbers would be right.

I know what you are thinking. Really? One darn(I used a much more appropriate word) stitch? Come on! It is knitting!!

No, this is Nihon Vogue and the whole reason we endeavor into this program is to have professional level garments. This is what I signed up for. I love it. Sure. I didn't love it at that very moment. When I wear it I know things are *just* right. It definitely was worth the extra effort. That is another lesson I am learning in Nihon Vogue. If it is worth doing, it is worth doing it right, especially if you are going to dedicate hours to a project.

There will be plenty of you out there arguing the point that knitting should be enjoyable and fun. Yes, it should. Nihon Vogue is about knitting at a different level. Sure I knit from published patterns and I like not having to *think* about it. I follow the step by step instructions. Nihon Vogue is about creating my own instructions. That is why during my Nihon Vogue projects I take detailed notes about what I did. We have to turn these in with our design notes. Really the design notes are for me, not Jean. They are a history of what I did for a particular design.

Sorry for the detour. Back to the Raglan.

This was an exercise in getting your patterns to match up, whether they be stripes or stitch patterns.

I used a discontinued yarn-Rowan Magpie. This was a wonderful yarn and I don't understand why Rowan discontinued it. I was able to get sweater quantity amounts from some fellow Ravelers. I still have a purplish color and a very beautiful charcoal gray in the stash(ten skeins each). If you have a chance to get your hands on some of this yarn, do so. It shows of cables and patterns very well. It is three ply yarn.

I did my raglan on 5.0mm for the body and 4.0mm for the ribbing. I only used 7.5 skeins which included swatching.

My inspiriation for the pattern was the Charade Socks. I love the simpleness of it and decided to use that stitch for the raglan challenge...lining up the patterns.



The cable for the front was from a Starmore design...can't remember which at the moment and I am too lazy to go look.

This is a warm and cozy sweater and now that the temperature has fallen it will get more use!