I am still enjoying knitting the raglan (Project 3 for Year 2 of Nihon Vogue) but am discovering it isn't quite the "oh what a piece of cake" project I had convinced myself it was. Silly girl! The actual knitting is fairly innocuous but there are several calculations in which one truly needs to be PRECISE. Taking those calculations to shape each of 4 pieces (front, back and 2 sleeves) by doing decrease stitches on corresponding rows EXACTLY the same and then to continue further shaping the sleeves and back piece in accordance with the little blue triangle shown on the drafted pattern is fraught with peril. Well, perhaps peril is a bit of an exaggeration, but certainly there are plenty of opportunities to make a mistake. To keep myself from steering off course, I mapped out a spreadsheet to diagram what was to happen on each row, what color of yarn that row was supposed to be, and what the stitch count should be when the row was completed. The goal is to have the pattern (stripes in my case) match EXACTLY between the front piece, sleeves and back piece. Errors are unforgiveable as there is no recourse except to rip out and reknit. The decreases on the right side row are a pairing on opposites ends of the garment and are done with the first two and last two stitches: slip 1 as if to knit, knit 1, PSSO and K2tog. The decreases on the wrong side are P2tog and slip 1 as if to knit, slip another 1 as if to knit, return those stitches to the left needle point to point, P2togTBL.
Despite my precautions, I still managed to miss a decrease and had to frog about 20 rows on the back side. Once I completed the front and back pieces I was alarmed to realize that each piece seemed a few centimeters longer than what the pattern draft was. What was that all about? I checked the knitted row gauge over and over and it seemed to be very close to the row gauge I had used in my calculations. Even if it went from 26 to 25, that would only account for 2-3 rows difference, not the extra length that was confounding me. I debated ripping out each piece back down to the armhole bind offs and doing the raglan decreases again. I took a deep breath and made the wise decision to wait for my moment of panic to pass. Other classmates have run into issues and have put their sweaters into a corner hoping a "knitter's miracle" would occur during the night. Yes, that is what I was fervently hoping for as well. The next morning I woke up around 4 am. Later that day Rob asked me "you woke up early because you were worried about your Raglan, weren't you?". It was more of a statement than a question. Ha! That man knows me too well!
I decided to throw caution to the wind - finish each piece, pin it together, and try it on to determine what the potential was for "letting it be" or decide if I should proceed with the dreaded ripping back. Arlene had tentatively joined her sweater together for a "trying on" as well and it seemed to be a good sanity check. I was sufficiently relieved to find the back and neck edges were not as high up on the neck as I had feared. Whoo Hoo. I forged ahead by removing the provisional cast on waste yarn and knit 7 rows of 1x1 ribbing for the front and back hem edges. Next up - ribbing on the cuffs. I can see the light at the end of the Raglan tunnel after all...
Despite my precautions, I still managed to miss a decrease and had to frog about 20 rows on the back side. Once I completed the front and back pieces I was alarmed to realize that each piece seemed a few centimeters longer than what the pattern draft was. What was that all about? I checked the knitted row gauge over and over and it seemed to be very close to the row gauge I had used in my calculations. Even if it went from 26 to 25, that would only account for 2-3 rows difference, not the extra length that was confounding me. I debated ripping out each piece back down to the armhole bind offs and doing the raglan decreases again. I took a deep breath and made the wise decision to wait for my moment of panic to pass. Other classmates have run into issues and have put their sweaters into a corner hoping a "knitter's miracle" would occur during the night. Yes, that is what I was fervently hoping for as well. The next morning I woke up around 4 am. Later that day Rob asked me "you woke up early because you were worried about your Raglan, weren't you?". It was more of a statement than a question. Ha! That man knows me too well! 
I decided to throw caution to the wind - finish each piece, pin it together, and try it on to determine what the potential was for "letting it be" or decide if I should proceed with the dreaded ripping back. Arlene had tentatively joined her sweater together for a "trying on" as well and it seemed to be a good sanity check. I was sufficiently relieved to find the back and neck edges were not as high up on the neck as I had feared. Whoo Hoo. I forged ahead by removing the provisional cast on waste yarn and knit 7 rows of 1x1 ribbing for the front and back hem edges. Next up - ribbing on the cuffs. I can see the light at the end of the Raglan tunnel after all...
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