Shaping Your Hand Knit Sweater

Shaping simply means to go from small to big, or big to small.  Its a lot simpler than it seams.  Those of you who have taken my classes already know, numbers are not my friends.  But, in the interest of knitting harmony, we maintain a cordial relationship, numbers and me.  So if I can figure it out, anybody can.


Basically, all we want to know, regardless if you are going big or going small, is how far apart should the increases (going big) or decreases (going small) be and how many times should you repeat?  


Simple question right?  Well here is the simple answer, in 7 easy steps:


Lets pretend we want to shape a sweater sleeve from the top (shoulder) to the wrist...  we'll be decreasing since we are going from big to small.


(Oh, you'll need to make sure you have your gauge swatch handy, you did make one, right?)

Step 1.  Measure the width of the top of the sleeve and measure the width of the wrist.  Make sure you allow extra inches for ease.  (of course, if you're knitting in the round, measure the circumference for the top of the sleeve and wrist)

Step 2.  Subtract the smaller of the two measurements from the larger measurement.

Step 3.  Multiply the result by your stitch gauge.  This tells you how many stitches need to be decreased.

Step 4.  Divide this number by 2.  (in most cases, for sleeves you decrease 2 stitches every decrease round, or row, usually 1 decrease to either side of the seam line, but if you wanted to get rid of more stitches per round or row, divide by that number.)

Step 5.  Measure the vertical distance from the top of the sleeve to the wrist.

Step 6.  Multiply this measurement by your row gauge.  This will tell you how many rounds, or rows, there are between the top of the sleeve and the wrist.

Step 7.  Divide the answer for step 4 into the answer for step 6.  This will tell you how many rounds, or rows apart the decreases should be spaced.

That, my pretties, is all there is to calculating shaping.