An Awesome Guide to Top-Down Raglan Design

If you’re at all interested in designing your own top-down sweaters, you need to read, follow, reread and absorb Kristen TenDyke’s amazing blog post all about how she designs top-down raglans. She uses Excel to help her with math, which is substantial, but logical. Thus the suggestion about rereading this piece, maybe a few times.

It’s a great resource for anyone looking to understand the process and mechanics behind designing a top-down raglan sweater. Kristen breaks down the steps in a clear and easy-to-understand way, including helpful tips and tricks along the way. From determining gauge and stitch counts, to shaping the neckline and calculating increases, her post covers it all.

Another great aspect of this post is the use of Excel to help with the math. Not everyone is comfortable with math and calculations, but Kristen’s use of Excel makes it accessible and easy to understand. The included pattern is also a great way to put the information into practice and see the math in action.

Overall, Kristen’s blog post is a must-read for anyone looking to design their own top-down raglan sweaters. It’s a comprehensive guide that will help demystify the process and give you the confidence to create your own unique designs.

There’s a simple raglan sweater pattern included in the post so you can sit with that and go through all the math if it helps you to see what’s happening.

This is so smart and helpful for anyone who wants to make up their own patterns for this knitting staple. Thanks for sharing, Kristen!

Have you ever written your own pattern for a sweater or another garment? I’d love to read about it.

[Photo via Kristen TenDyke.]

Looking for knitting patterns for knitted Cardigans? Check out these Knitting patterns we found on Etsy.

Looking for pullover and sweater patterns? Check these books out.

Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time.

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring.

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn.

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row.

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves.

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body.

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy.

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

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