Knit Talk - Ep 25 - Add A Curved Edge to the Bottom of Your Sweater with Short Rows 

That's awesome! Good on you! I'd love to know if you give it a try sometime. And if you have more questions about short rows, ask away!

Aw, thank you! I never want to over-share but we sure do a lot for our kids (fur-babies included) and sometimes it takes it's toll! At the start of tomorrow's episode I cover one last tip if you're adding a curved bottom edge so be sure to check it out if you want to give it a try!

You're welcome! I appreciate you coming back to learn with me!! And yes, Moo is doing great this week. Let's hope it stays that way! ;)

Awesome! Let me know what you think if you give it a try!

That’s a great question! When I worked my short rows, I worked them in ever-increasing intervals because I wanted a gentle slope to mine. I’ll pull this directly from my sample. The front half of my sweater is 72 stitches. I started out by dividing that total by 3 so I ended up with 3 sections: 1 short row side, the center where no short row turning points will occur (this will be the deepest point of your short rows), and the other short row side. I ended up with 23, 26, 23 based on my spacing of the short rows and the total number of rows I wanted to work but you could certainly do 24, 24, 24. Next you want to determine how many short rows you need to work to achieve your depth. Just for the purpose of this example, we’ll say you want to work a total of 18 short rows, or 9 turns in each short row side. You’ll divide your 23 “short row side” stitches by 8 (your target turning point minus 1): 23 / 8 = 2.875. You will round down to 2 since you don’t want to use MORE stitches than you have for your short row side. On Short Rows 1 & 2 I worked to 4 sts before the end of the row, and then performed the first W&T (so I have 3 sts unworked) at each edge. This was so I had a 3-stitch garter allowance at the edge. This may vary based on the edging you plan to use. On Short Rows 3, 4, 5 & 6 is where I started to use the base number of 2 (that I calculated above dividing my “short row side sts by 8). I worked to 2 sts before the previous W&T, and worked the W&T (so I had 1 stitch between each W&T). On Short Rows 7, 8, 9 & 10 I increased by 1: I worked to 3 sts before the previous W&T, and then worked the W&T so now three are 2 sts between each W&T. Short Rows 11-14 I worked to 4 sts before the previous W&T. And Short Rows 15-18 I worked to 5 sts before the previous W&T. With all 18 rows complete, I was able to knit to each edge, processing the W&T’s as encountered, back to working the entire row. I hope this helps! Good luck!

Thanks so much - he's doing great this week! Won't sit still now. :)

Thank you! He came around fairly quickly, thank goodness. He's still on a pretty strict diet but he's feeling so much better!

This is a sweater that I just made up for myself so I haven't published it but if there is interest, I can certainly consider it. Thanks so much for watching!

Also curious about this

Yes - that would work really well! You want the shape of the short rows to fit the shape you're looking for so you'd start with the narrower short rows at the bottom center and then make each row a little longer / wider as you go!

@@leftycrafterI'm not sure if you get notified about a response when I comment on the original, but I've left a response about the short rows. :)

It's tricky when you've got a fabric that is so graphic, using horizontal lines to make the design. If it were colored stripes, you could work a short row (making each stripe deeper by 2 rows) down the front of the sweater to add extra length, but there isn't really room for that in a pattern like the Storm Sweater. I think, were this me, that I would try to work some short rows into the ribbing only. If you were to look at the front and back of the sweater simultaneously, it would be obvious that the front ribbing is deeper at the hem, but since we're often only viewed from the front OR the back it wouldn't be too noticeable. I'm not sure you'd comfortably get two extra inches of length, but you might be able to squeeze in an inch. I would probably start the short rows at the sides of the garment, and then work them slowly longer into the back of the garment. It'll probably fade out better that way, rather than trying to work them shorter in the front. I hope that makes sense. So, just as an example, Short Rows 1 and 2 can turn at the side seams, then Rows 3 & 4 would be 1 or 2 stitches past the side seam (towards the back). So the Front gets crossed entirely on each row. Good luck! I'm rooting for you!!