Nihon Vogue - Dolman and Raglan Update

DOLMAN SWEATER

From Wikipedia - "A Dolman - from Turkish dolaman "robe" is a type of clothing. Originally, the term referred to a long and loose garment with narrow sleeves and an opening in the front.
Dolman was also a favourite style of mantle in the 1870s and 80's, worn by fashionable women. It was often cleverly cut from shawl fabric."

Knitting the Dolman sweater for Nihon Vogue has been a long journey. Because the front and back is knit with sleeves attached to the body, it seems to take almost forever to knit a row from cuff to cuff. I likened it to driving west to east across Montana - a seemingly never ending adventure! My preference was for a "limited" arch underneath the arm to keep the "bat wing-y-ness" to a minimum. In class we first drafted the pattern in our design notebook at quarter scale rather than lifesize. Other than the neckline shaping, the front and the back of the sweater is essentially the same. I used a handpainted yarn in several shades of green with a slip stitch pattern to break up the potential for color pooling or striping. My desire was for the sweater to remind me of a hike through the Hoh Rain Forest but Arlene told me she thought it looked like Army camoflage! The front part of the sweater is split 1/4 down the middle to incorporate a Henley/placket design with buttons.

The process for designing a Dolman sweater is to extend the sleeve from the shoulder point on the drafted design to the wrist point. Lines for 1/2 of the upper arm measurement, 3/5 of the arm length (elbow point) are drawn and connected to the body. The depth of the arch is designed through personal preference after the sleeve ease is added. The stitch increases for the Dolman arch from the body to the sleeve is accomplished by crocheting a yarn chain and then performing a short rowing technique to pick up the appropriate number of stitches from this chain for each side of the sweater. Each sleeve is completed by adding the total number of stitches on the bottom edge of the sleeves calculated by using row and stitch gauge, adding the correct number of stitches to form a triangular wedge from the cuff to the top of the sleeve, and then doing short rows in the large triangular section from the neck, top of cuff and shoulder. The green stitch markers in the photo show the 5 stitch segments for short rowing. I have definitely gotten better at understanding and executing short rows while knitting this sweater! The front and back of the sweater are joined at the sleeves by 3 needle bind off or a weaving Kitchener like stitch (if the pattern is stockinette). I have finished the front and back, joined the top sleeves together, put ribbing on the bottom, seamed up the sides, and knit in the neckband. I still have to sew up the bottom sleeve seam (to be done in the next class), knit the placket ribbing button band, sew on buttons, and knit cuff ribbing. I fear the sleeves on my Dolman sweater may be way too long for my liking. Not sure where I went wrong because the stitch gauge is spot on, but obviously I goofed somewhere. Alas, with the way this sweater is constructed, simply cutting off the bottom of each sleeve won't work ( I confess, yes, I have amputated sweater sleeves in the past!) We'll see what the end result is like. My youngest sister (her arms are longer than mine) may be getting another sweater after all. The Dolman sweater has been a fascinating experience from the start. I'm happy to have done it, but it likely isn't going to be a project I would eagerly repeat anytime soon. If ever.

RAGLAN SWEATER

From Wikipedia - "A raglan sleeve is a type of sleeve whose distinguishing characteristic is to extend in one piece fully to the collar, leaving a diagonal seam from armpit to collarbone. It is popular in sports and exercise wear, and named after the 1st Baron Raglan, probably because it was designed to fit his coat for the arm lost in the Battle of Waterloo".

Naomi has a fantastic description on her blog on the use of geometry during the design of the Raglan sweater. The Raglan begins like the Dolman, meaning the sleeves are extended from the shoulder point. The Raglan utilizes 1/3 the measurement of neck curve to form an isosceles triangle. The line from the neck bisecting the base of the triangle eventually forms the decrease edge for the front, back and sleeves of the Raglan sweater. The purpose of this sweater is for us to learn how to exactly match the pattern at the diagonal seams where the front joins the sleeves and where the back joins the sleeves. Jean wanted us to chose to match the stitch pattern or match stripes, ie vertical or horizontal pattern. She said it was difficult to do both at the same time. For a change, I went the easier route and chose to match horizontally.

I did a fair isle band at the bottom of the front, back and sleeve cuffs and then used a very simple Fibonacci combination of 2 stripes in black, 3 stripes in gray for the rest of each section. This decision was prompted by my declaration of using ONLY stash yarn for Year Two Nihon Vogue projects. I didn't have enough of the black yarn to do 2 stripes of each color, so I had to increase the percentage that the gray yarn was used. With the 3 stripes of gray, it has been amusing to see if the gray yarn is on the proper side of the knitting when I have to increase on a row. Meaning most of the time "yes", and some of the time "no". Jean instructed us to knit each piece separately up to the armhole and then do the decreases as calculated, and shaping to the neckline. Each piece should have the decreases done at the same time so as to not make a mistake. Like the Dolman, the Raglan is not tolerant of mistakes. We will be sewing the sweater together in the next class. So far I have completed 3/4 of each piece and am enjoying knitting Raglan much more than Dolman.