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A Trick to Make Seaming Shoulders Easier

October 14, 2014 by Sarah White

How to use short rows to shape a shoulder.One of the disadvantages of knitting a pieced sweater is all the finishing that’s involved, and one of the most unpleasant duties when it comes to finishing a sweater is sewing in the sleeves.

One of the things that often causes problems when it comes to setting in sleeves is the stairstep nature of many sleeve designs. That shaping is there, as Gwen from 2 Sides 2 Points tells us, so that the shoulder seam will form a straight line from the neck along the shoulder. (Note, this article is now available through the Internet Archive, which might not always be the case.)

This is usually accomplished by making a stairstep bind off, which looks in the pattern like “BO x stitches at the beginning of next Y rows.” It’s easy to write a pattern that way, and it’s easy for the knitter to execute, but it’s not the best when it comes to seaming.  Looking for sweater patterns? Check these books out.

As is so often the case in knitting, the answer is short rows. Check out the article linked above for more on why short row shoulders are so great and how to convert a pattern written for stairstep shoulders into a short row shoulder.

It’s a really clever idea that will make seaming that much easier. (And if you’ve never worked short rows before, check out my tutorial at the Spruce. Disclaimer: I wrote this when it was still About, and haven’t worked there for years and am not responsible for edits or deletions.)

Have you ever done a short row shoulder? I’d love to hear about it!

Did you know, specific to knitters, you can join our Knitting Patterns Only group to get knitting patterns, ask questions and gain inspiration for what to knit next. Or how about our VIP Knitting Group with Free knitting pattern access including vintage and Etsy designer patterns for less than $1 a month.

[Photo via 2 Sides 2 Points.]

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Comments

  1. Marlene says

    December 29, 2017 at 10:34 pm

    I always do German short row shaping on my shoulders, but I don’t bind them off and sew them together. I hold the stitches until the corresponding shoulder is finished, then I bind off both shoulders together using the three needke bind off method. It makes a very flat seam with a little, but not too much, stretch.

  2. Sooz says

    August 24, 2018 at 7:50 pm

    Did I miss something? Where is the instruction on this?

  3. Sarah White says

    August 26, 2018 at 4:26 pm

    That page doesn’t seem to exist anymore, but here’s another page that talks about short-row shoulder shaping. https://www.sistermountain.com/blog/short-row-shoulders

  4. Karen Richardson says

    March 12, 2020 at 4:56 am

    How do you do german short rows for a kite shaped scarf ?

  5. P says

    September 21, 2020 at 10:16 pm

    I do my shoulders the same Marlene does. German Short Row shaping and connecting back to front with a 3-needle bindoff. So neat and clean and no bothersome seaming.

  6. Christine says

    April 24, 2021 at 7:24 am

    I do mine the same as Marlene, a whole lot less bother

Have you read?

Stitch Some Seagulls on Your Sweater

It’s been well documented that I love a knitting pattern with a bit of whimsy, so when I saw the Mine! Pullover from Sarah L. Kelly recently I knew I had to share it with you.

I mean, who wouldn’t want to knit a sweater with a yoke full of seagulls? And another seagull at the waist? Chasing little crabs?

The story behind the sweater (and you knew there had to be one, right?) is that while Sarah was traveling around Europe there were a lot of cheeky seagulls about. They reminded her of the scene in Finding Nemo where the seagulls say “mine, mine, mine” and thus the Mine! series of patterns was born. 

Oh yes, there’s a whole set. It was the sweater I saw first but there’s also a pair of socks (and the pattern says there’s a cowl, too, but I couldn’t find it as of this writing. If you see it let me know and I’ll add the link here!) so you can totally deck yourself out in pesky seabirds if you want.

But back to the sweater for now. This is worked in DK weight yarn from the top down in the round. The yoke and a section at the bottom are worked in stranded colorwork, with stripes on the body, though you could make the body a single color if you wanted. Details like the beaks and eyes are added with duplicate stitch to make the knitting a little easier.

The colorwork sections are charted. The pattern comes in 10 sizes, with a finished chest circumference ranging from 32 to 68 inches, or 80 to 170 cm.

The socks are worked in sock yarn and come in three sizes. There worked from the cuff down and change needle sizes to accommodate the less stretchy nature of stranded colorwork. You can choose from a side profile or a seagull that’s looking out from the sock. Make a matching pair or mix it up.

Both patterns are available on Ravelry: sweater and socks. If you make them I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Sarah L. Kelly]

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