Top down raglan has always been a popular style for knitters. I’ve made several myself. One of the fun things you can do with top down is play around with your
Top Down Raglan Increases
In my top down design class, we play with the increases as part of the design decisions. There are so many wonderful ways to work that seam. Let’s look at some of our decisions.
1) What type of increase
Do you use a YO, a Kfbl, a LLI or RLI, a M1L and M1R. So many ways to work.
KFBL (knit front and back loop)
Knit front and back loop is a classic that can be worked before and after a marker. Because the knit front and back loop creates, visually, a knit followed by a purl (not really, but the bar looks like a purl bump), but working them before and after the marker, you get what looks like a center knit seam.
I worked this increase in the Nadia pullover.
LLI & RLI (left lifted and right lifted increase)
Left lifted and right lifted increase is another lovely option for a less visible seam. This will cause less distortion to the surrounding stitches than a make one, but depending on your yarn and how closely stacked your increases, this may cause row distortion. Works very well in a yarn with excellent elasticity like wool.
YO (yarn over)
Yarn overs with one or more stitches between them, makes a lovely decorative increase.
I used this with a 2 stitch seam on the Lake Michigan Cardi.
2) Seam or No Seam?
You can also add one or more knit or purl stitches between your markers. This can totally change the look of a garment.
Here I added a couple of knit & purl stitches between my markers to mirror the lace edge in the Entwined Shrug
3) Decorative Stitch at Seam?
Another super fun thing you can do is put a decorative stitch between the markers. Here’s a swatch from my top down class, showing a simple 1/1 twist between the increase markers
I used this fun technique on Prospect Park Capelet. Here one of the stitches broke away from the collar and travelled down the seam and then magically rejoined the hem.
I’m thinking I might need to turn this into a pullover . . . what do you think?
Want to experiment before committing? Cast on a few stitches and work a swatch changing up the increase and the seam stitches. Here’s a swatch from my class.
What are your most favoritest (that’s a word right?) raglan increases? Leave me a comment and let me know.
