Evening star., 1949-02-22

taken of gradually over about two
inches of knitting, usually taking
off one stitch either every knit row
or every other knit row (usuaD
Il the pattern calls for S stitches
to the inch. at this point they will
say. knit off stitches at the be-
ginning of the next 2 rows. This
would decrease their pattern two
inches in width, one on each side.
II your swatch called for 10 !
stitches to the inch you would
take off 10 stitches at the begin
ming of these two rows and you
would have taken off 2 inches,
too. In this way you figure out
your directions at all points on
the sweater. writing them right
on the graph paper. The rows
to the inch measurement is i'm
portant when figuring how to take
of for the armhole sleeves and
for the neck opening as you do
not want to decrease too fast.
You can figure how many inches
they decrease in a length of
knitting. say from where you be-
gin to take off for the neck open
ing and where you stop at the top
of the shoulder. If your neck
opening is 6 inches from shoulder
to bottom of neck opening and
the back of the neck is 5 inches
wide usual adult then you will
take off 212 inches on each side.
If you have 10 stitches to the inch
you will take off Is stitches (21a by
10) each side in 6 inches (and
one over). Making the decrease
gradual this gives you four de-
creases in each inch or you could
make it five decreases in 5 inches
and knit the last inch straight. so
if you know how many rows to the
inch you will be able to figure just
where to decrease in each inch.
These decreases at the neck
opening are usually every other
knit row as every knit row is too
often.
BY knowing how many stitches
to the inch and how many rows
TO the inch you can see that you
can make any sweater for any,
body. II haven't made enough
hats to have any opinion but
don't see why it wouldn't work If
you get all measurements For
years I have charted my own
sweaters as I like the armholes
bigger than those called for in
most patterns. also I like mine
longer in length. The same is
true of my husbands. He has
a long waist and arms and he
likes pockets in all his sweaters.
Also, I make the back Of the
neck S inches on his sweaters mot
counting band which sticks up In
back.
No matter what the pattern calls
for, this makes a neater neck. It's
also a good idea to sew a piece of
tape on both shoulders and back
of neck. in other words all the
way across. You cover the shoul-
der seam underneath with the
tape. sewing it on both sides with
ordinary sewing thread. This
keeps the shoulders from droop-
ing and the neck from getting
wider and out of shape. Or just on
the shoulder seams helps a lot.
The tape should be pre-shrunk or .
you can wash it first and shrink
it TO be sure II
A hint for making a sweater ,
that can be heightened both in
the body and in the sleeves. In
stead of making ribbing at these
points If you will start out knit
ting fiat. making an inch longer I
than called for, for turn up, as ,
in a coat sweater. This extra inch |
is turned up and stitched down !
for hem both around the bottom /
and on sleeves. Next year when {
the sweater is too short and the 1
sleeves too short you take out the {
hens and using the size needle {
you would have used for ribbing ,
in the original pattern. usually i
several sizes smaller than that |
used in the body. You pick up each t
stitch and knit the ribbing right l
on the sweater. You can use the {
same yarn or a contrast. The
sweater can then be washed and t
you can't tell the difference, ex- {
cept in the differences in the color !
of the warn and everybody will {