Voliere yarns from Knit Picks

Calculate decreases for Ragland sleeves

by Gina
(Germany )

How does one calculate the number of stitches to decrease and how often to decrease stitches for a Raglan jacket knitted from the bottom up, please?

Comments for Calculate decreases for Ragland sleeves

Average Rating starstarstarstarstar

Click here to add your own comments

Oct 21, 2024
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Calculate decreases for Ragland sleeves
by: Ratcha

Hi Gina,

Thanks for asking.

Calculating Stitches for Raglan Shaping

When planning raglan shaping, I start by determining how many stitches I want to decrease and how many stitches I want to remain in each section.

Step 1: Determine Width and Length
For example, let's say I have 100 stitches at the underarm for the front section, and I want to reduce this to 30 stitches over a length of 8 inches. This means I need to decrease a total of 70 stitches, which breaks down to 35 stitches from each end.

Step 2: Calculate Depth and Row Gauge
Next, I need to consider my row gauge. Let’s assume my gauge is 8 rows per inch. Since I need to cover 8 inches for the raglan shaping, that would require a total of 64 rows for this section.

Step 3: Plan the Decreases
Typically, raglan shaping is done every other row on the right side. However, when I look at my calculations, I see that decreasing 35 stitches over 64 rows would mean I’d need to decrease approximately every 1.8 rows, which isn’t practical for knitting.

To make this more manageable, I adjust my plan. I can decrease every 2 rows for the first 60 rows, and then decrease every row for the last 4 rows. This approach will leave me with a total decrease of 34 stitches from each end, which is the closest to my goal.

(number of rows need decrease) divided by (number of stitches decrease) = frequency of decrease

You can seach youtube video for raglan shaping to see how other knitters calculate their.

Best to you and your project. Happy knitting!

Ratcha

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own comment! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Knitting Questions And Comments.

spring banner

Samia Yarn from Knit Picks
notesheetpackage2


Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.