In this Granny Raglan Sweater pt2 we will continue where we left off. Crocheting the sleeves, and the neckline.
Introduction
As the inspiration and all other chatty crochet bits has not changed, I thought we could get right into the crochet. Just a quick reminder of some important information below.
Measurements: After steaming
- Bust – 40”
- Waist 36”
- Neckline pre rib – 8” Post rib 7”
- Armhole depth – 8”
- To determine this, visit the craft yarn council or measure a favorite t shirt from the top of the sleeve join to the bottom of the sleeve.
- Length pre rib – 16” post rib – 18”
- Sleeve length (including cuff) 17”
- Sleeve width – 10”
- Cuff width – 6.75”
Gauge
Measured over 4″ post steaming 10 rounds and 5 granny stitches with a 4.25 mm hook – very important!
Post steaming – my gauge didn’t really change much.
Materials
- 405 g of yarn total for the measurements provided.
- Color 1 Drops Saffran (sport weight combed cotton yarn) in red
- Color 2: Drops Saffran in green
- Color 3: LionBrand Comfy Cotton
- Color 1.1 Cloudborn Fibers Crimson Heather (45/25/30 alpaca, merino wool,and silk) I only used this one for the sleeves as I ran out of the Drops Saffran.
Hook sizes:
- 4.25mm hook for the body
- 4mm hook for the sleeves and to pick up neckline stitches
- 3.75mm to complete neckline
- Yarn needle
- Scissors
- Tape measure
Stitches and abbreviations
- Sc – single crochet
- sl st – slip stitch
- Granny – 3 dc in the same stitch/space
- Granny corner – 3dc, ch2, 3dc in the same space/stitch
- Half corner – 3 dc in the same space.
- sc2dec – single crochet decrease 2
Granny Raglan Sweater pt2
Let’s proceed with our Neckline.
Neckline:
I’ve made many a raglan sweater that left well enough alone with the neckline. But I find that if we do that the Neckline tends to choke at the front.
Enter the magic of short rows. I have a video detailing what short rows are in a garment and how I make them, but essentially, you make x number of sts, then you sl st to the next st, turn and work your way back.
In this case short rows are used to build height on the back of the garment to avoid the choking hazard.
To build the short rows and for the duration of the neckline use color 1 (red) and a 4.25mm hook.
After the short rows were complete, I switched to a 4mm hook and did one rnd of front post back post double crochet.
Then, I switched to a 3.75mm hook and completed two rounds of front post back post dc. Fasten off, and cut your yarn.
As with the bottom rib you can choose a different rib for the neckline. I even like to knit mine if given a chance, but I do like the texture of raised stitches.
Sleeves (x2)
Because we have shaped the majority of the sleeve during our raglan construction, we could just leave the sleeves alone. We could also crochet a couple of rounds to take it from a sleeve cap to a slightly longer but still short sleeve.
Or, we could go the long sleeve route, which I have done.
Continuing with our color scheme BUT this time with a 4mm crochet hook.
Rnd 1: at the bottom of the armhole, work a granny st in the middle st of the granny. Work a granny st dec in the corner and the next granny space. Continue working granny st until you reach the top of the sleeve, do another granny st dec. Then, continue working granny st until you reach the end of the rnd, join with a sl st to the first dc.
Rnd 2: In the space created by our join make a dc, continue working a granny st between each granny, until you reach the space with the lone dc, make 2 dc in this space and join with a sl st to the first dc.
Rnd 3: Sl st in the space, granny st, granny st between each granny, join with a sl st to the first dc.
Keep repeating rounds 2 and 3 until you reach the desired length, or 15.75” like I did. I also made sure to end on a white round so that my cuff would be in red (color 1).
Cuff
Rnd1: *Sc, sc2dec; rep from * around, ch1. 30sc
Rnd2: *Front post dc, back post dc in the next st; rep from * around.
Continue repeating round 2, two more times without joining in the rnd. Fasten off and cut yarn.
After completing the crochet on my sweater, I wove in the ends (that’s a lie, they are still unwoven but don’t be like me) and steamed the sweater to relax the stitches.
With that we have completed our granny raglan sweater.
