Rosemont KAL Week 2: Sorting out the Raglan + Neck Increases

We’re delighted to be hosting our very own Rosemont Cardigan Knit-A-Long on the Kelbourne Woolens Blog. The Rosemont Cardigan, by Hannah Fettig, features Terra in Nettle and is a great way to stay warm during the last few months of winter.

There is currently a thread in out KAL Ravelry Group that brings up some really great questions about sorting out the raglan and neck increases when working the yoke on Rosemont. As a result, we thought it would be nice to go a little more in depth about exactly how to figure out the shaping and some tips and tricks for keeping track! Leah asked Kate to break it down for everyone and her post is below:

Hi there! Kate here. Leah is doing a spectacular job of hosting the KAL, and she asked me to step in as a “guest” poster to shed some light onto the yoke and front increases on Rosemont. As she mentioned previously, Rosemont  is a top-down raglan. “Typical” top down raglans increase one stitch on each side of each raglan line (the 4 diagonal lines that divide the body and sleeves that travel down to the armholes) every other row. Rosemont is a little different, and has some compound-style raglan shaping, where the 8 “typical” raglan increases don’t all occur every other row. This makes for a nice shape that is more in line with the human body. Since Rosemont is an open-front cardigan, there are also increases that occur on the left and right fronts of the sweater, extending past the armholes, creating a nice, deep and subtle diagonal line. As a result, you’re actually dealing with a few different sets of raglan increases. On top of that, because you have raglan AND neck increases, sometimes they all occur on the same row, sometimes on totally different rows, and some RS rows, you’re not increasing at all! 

Two quick useful tips:
• Read the whole “Body” section through to the “Divide Sleeves from Body” section before you begin knitting.
• The neck increase occurs every 6 rows through the sleeve + body raglan increases and past the raglan increases. This “every 6th row” increases occurs the whole time you’re doing all the other raglan increases.

The raglan increases occur in 3 sections, which I oh-so creatively titled A, B + C: 

SECTION A: Section A is the set of instructions in the 2nd column near the bottom: “Repeat raglan increases every 4th row x (x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x) times more as follows: RS: *Work to…..* 3 times more, work to end of row. 8 sts increased. Next Row (WS): Purl to end”. You will be working this section, and AT THE SAME TIME, work those neck increases every 6th row.

Before trying to understand Section A, if you are one of the sizes with a “0“ in the set of instructions, don’t worry! This section does not apply to you. Move ahead to Section B.

HYPOTHETICAL EXAMPLE: My size tells me to work the raglan increases every 4th row 5 times more. This means I work Section A for 4 rows x 5 times = 20 rows, plus that last “Next Row (WS)”, so 20 rows + 1 row = 21 rows total.

Each Row of my Section A is as follows:
Rows 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21 (WS): Purl to end
Row 2 (RS): Knit all sts (no increases)
Row 4: Raglan Incs
Row 6: Neck Incs
Row 8: Raglan Incs
Row 10: Knit all sts (no increases)
Row 12: Raglan AND Neck Incs
Row 14: Knit all sts (no increases)
Row 16: Raglan Incs
Row 18: Neck Incs
Row 20: Raglan Incs 

Once I’ve knit my 21 rows of Section A, I will move onto Section B.

SECTION B: Section B begins right after “Next Row (WS): Purl to end” and ends with the instructions that occur in the 3rd column at the top: “Repeat theses 4 rows 3 times more, then Rows 3-4 x (x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x) times more.” In Section B, you are given a 4 Row set of directions:

Row 1 (RS): Sleeve and Back Increases
Row 2 (WS): Purl to end
Row 3: Sleeve and Body Increases
Row 4: Purl to end 

HYPOTHETICAL EXAMPLE: My size tells me repeat these 4 rows 3 times more, then repeat Rows 3-4 6 times more. This means I work Section B for 4 rows x 4 times = 16 rows, plus 2 rows x 6 times = 12 rows. 16 rows + 12 rows = 28 rows TOTAL. Since I’m working Rows 1-4 once, then 3 times more, that is where the 4 rows x 4 times comes from. And, don’t forget, AT THE SAME TIME, I’ll be working those neck increases every 6th row. Since I last worked a neck Increase on Row 18 from Section A, and worked 3 more Rows after (Rows 19, 20, 21), that means my neck increases are going to start 3 rows later on Row 3, then happen on Rows 9, 15, 21 and 27.

Each row of my Section B is as follows:
Row 1 (RS): Sleeve and Back Increases
Rows 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24: Purl to end
Row 3: Sleeve and Body Increases AND Neck Increases
Row 5: Sleeve and Back Increases
Row 7: Sleeve and Body Increases
Row 9: Sleeve and Back Increases AND Neck Increases
Row 11: Sleeve and Body Increases
Row 13: Sleeve and Back Increases
Row 15: Sleeve and Body Increases AND Neck Increases
Switch to repeating just Rows 3-4 from the written instructions:
Row 17: Sleeve and Body Increases
Row 19: Sleeve and Body Increases
Row 21: Sleeve and Body Increases AND Neck Increases
Row 23: Sleeve and Body Increases
Row 25: Sleeve and Body Increases
Row 27: Sleeve and Body Increases AND Neck Increases

Once you I’m done with Section B, I’ll move onto Section C.

• Note: If you are the size that has a “0” written in the space telling you how many times to repeat Rows 3-4, you will only work Section B for 16 Rows total.

SECTION C: Section begins with “Sizes – (-, -, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x)” only: Next row body only inc row: *work to 1 st before m….” and ends with “Repeat body only inc row every RS row – ( -, -, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x) times. Next Row (WS): Purl to end”

Before trying to understand Section C, if you are one of the sizes with a “-“ in the set of instructions, this section does not apply to you. Check your stitch count, then move ahead to the “Divide Sleeves from Body” section.

In Section C, you are given a 1 Row set of instructions that you repeat every other row. This set of instructions has you work increases on the body (each front and the back) only.

Row 1: Left Front, Back and Right Front Increases

HYPOTHETICAL EXAMPLE: My size tells me repeat the body only inc row 5 times. This means I will work 10 rows TOTAL of Section C (5 increase rows + 4 corresponding wrong side rows, ending after working a RS row, then the last WS row as given at the end of the section). AT THE SAME TIME, I’ll be working those neck increases every 6th row. Since I just worked a neck increase Row on Row 27, then worked one WS row, I’ll be working a neck increase Row on Row 5. 

Each row of my Section C is as follows:
Row 1: Body only increase row
Rows 2, 4, 6, 8, 10: Purl to end
Row 3: Body only increase row
Row 5: Body only increase row AND neck increases
Row 7: Body only increase row
Row 9: Body only increase row

Once I’m done with Section C, I’ll move onto the “Divide Sleeves form Body” set of instructions. This tells me to Purl to end. And, then, I’m done! Time to divide the sleeves from the body. 

Don’t forget! After the division, you’re still working the neck increases every 6 rows until you’ve worked them as many times as the pattern instructions tell you in the “Repeat neck increases every 6th row x (x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x) times more as follows”. Don’t forget about the “more”, so the total neck increases will be the number in the instructions + 1 because you’ve already worked one neck increase in the “Establish Neck and Raglan Increases” Row.

Hopefully that is helpful to you! If you have any more questions, comment on this post, post in the Ravelry group, or email us at info (at) kelbournewoolens (dot) com.

-Kate