How to knit a great fitting sweater

Set-In sleeve edition, part 2

Last time, we talked about the importance of your crossback measurement in getting a great fit in your handknit, set-in sleeve sweater:

If the crossback is too wide, the sleeve seams will hang over your shoulders and give you extra fabric at the armpit. If the crossback is too small—ouch! The sleeve seam of your sweater can get too close to the bust and dig in. Not a comfortable way to use your pretty yarn!

Get the crossback just right (the Goldilocks’ measurement) and you’re on your way to getting your set-in sleeve sweater to fit your frame (not only your bust).

But there’s another measurement that you need to consider as well—it’s the armhole depth measurement or, more accurately, the “armscye” : The vertical distance from the shoulder seam down to the bottom of your underarm. 

So how do you find this measurement on yourself?

It’s a funky thing to measure on your own body—you can measure on the front or back of your body, but make sure that you hold the zero of the tape-measure at the top of where your shoulder seam sits when you wear a sweater.

The zero should be closer to your actual shoulder rather than close to the neck or the measurement will be too long.  Then, drop the tape measure flat against your body down to the level of your underarm, but don’t let the tape curve over to your armpit.   Read the tape measure at the bottom of your underarm curve.

A mirror helps.

I highly recommend you also take this measurement from a set-in-sleeve sweater that already fits you well.  Here’s how:

When I measure my own armscye on my body, I get a measurement of about 6”.  But zoom in on the yellow sweater pic—it fits me well, yet it has an armscye of about 7”.  Huh?

The deal with this is, unlike the crossback measurement, you want some positive ease to your armscye. This means that the armscye measurement on the sweater should be a bigger number than the measurement on your body.

If the armscye on your sweater is too short, you’ll probably have a hard time raising your arm while wearing it, and you might also get the feeling that the underarm is way too tight. Ouch.

If the armscye too long, the armpits will be quite low, and you’ll end up with a sweater that’s heading into swancho territory—fine if you’re wanting a swancho, but it’ll ride up anytime you go to raise your arms.

Aim to have your sweater’s armscye be 1-2” longer than your body’s measurement.  This tends to be a personal preference with some folks preferring a tiny bit less ease than that and others wanting a bit more than 2”.

Wanna put your crossback and armscye measurements to work for you? Some terrific patterns to start out with are my Knit Me Baby One More Time or the yellow sweater in the photo (if you love working complex lace patterns) which is Spring in Her Path.

Both patterns utilize a seamless set in sleeve construction that was initially developed by Barbara Walker in her incredible Knitting From The Top book. I’ve tweaked it to give an even smoother sleeve cap for a perfect, seamless set-in sleeve every time.

What am I up to, knitting-wise?

I’m walkin’ the talk by working on a set in sleeve sweater in DK weight for myself. The fit check looks good, so I’m moving forward with it!

It’s a DK version of Knit Me Baby, so it obviously has to be named Oops I Knit It Again, right?? /sorrynotsorry

This one will have long sleeves with some bits of optional striping (hot pink shorts also optional), and a navy neck trim once it’s done.

And by “done,” I mean in time for fall—it’s just a few months away, and I hope to have this and some smaller, fun projects all ready for y’all by then:)

Enjoy August and what’s left of July!

Mary (aka Lyrical Knits)