Project #33. Janet Contiguous Jacket

 

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“The Contiguous method is a way of knitting the shoulder seams and sleeve caps of a garment from the top down…for a set-in sleeve look.” – Susie Myers.

Instructions for this jacket are notes from me adapting the Contiguous Method by Susie Myers to make this specific jacket, that I think may be helpful to you 😊.   This is not a full pattern.  It does not cover the collar, the front neckline, body shaping, & the finishings.

It starts with how I calculated the number of stitches to cast on based on my measurement and my gauge, how many stitches I increased for the shoulder seam, and my sleeve cap & underarm shaping before the underarm cast on. 

All shaping instructions were arrived by my own trial & error, with the exception of the shoulder seam from Susie Myers.

Difficulty Level: Intermediate.

Sample size: XS/S.

Yarn: Lion Brand Yarns Wool Ease.

Needle: 40” Circular Needle in size US 8 or 5.00 mm. 

Gauge (in Garter St): 8.75 sts x 19 rows = 2” x 2”.

INSTRUCTIONS

 Shoulder Seam:

Start by measuring the shoulder to shoulder width (A in Figure 1).

That distance for me is 12”.  My back neck opening will be half of this distance, or 6”.

Using the gauge, the number of sts this distance calculates to is: 6” * (8.75sts/2”) = 26.25 or 26 sts.  This is the number of sts to cast on for my back neck opening.

To also cast on for the front straps & shoulders, add another 6 sts for a total of 32 sts.

Using the 40” CN, CO 32 sts.

I calculate how many sts to increase for the shoulder seam from the width of my front straps, which is: 12” – 6” (neck opening) = 6” / 2 straps = 3” per strap, and that can be converted to 13.125 sts, or 14 sts, because I prefer even numbers.

Row 1 (R1): knit front & back (kfb), place marker (pm), k2, pm, kfb, knit until 4 sts left, kfb, pm, k2, pm, kfb.

R2: * knit to 1 st before marker, kfb, slip marker (sm), k2, sm, kfb*, repeat * to *, knit to end.

Keep repeating the last row to make the shoulder seam.  I will repeat the last row for an additional 13 times, so that each strap will be 16 or 14+2 sts.  This is because later on I am going to adjust the markers so there will be 6 sts between markers, not two, so that the shoulder cap lies more flat.  After adjusting the markers, it will be back to 14 sts for the straps.

Note: Instructions do not cover the front neckline.  Usually I start neckline shaping near the shoulder cap or end of shoulder slope, followed by cast on for the neck frontline.

 Sleeve Cap Shaping:

Adjust markers so there will be 6 sts between them.  If you continue without adjustment then the shoulder cap will be more pointed, and the straps a bit wider.

I approximate my sleeve cap shape according to Figure 2, where sections a-c, each with equal number of rows, are calculated using my arm circumference (15”, B in Figure 1) – sleeve cap (~1”, A in Figure 2) – underarm (UA) shaping (~2” total on both sides, 2*B in Figure 2) – UA cast on (~2”, C in Figure 2) = 10”.

10” /2 sides = 5” for each side of sleeve cap, and 5”/3 sections = 1.67” each for sections a, b, & c, with section a is where ~2/3 of the increases are made, section b is where ~1/3 of the increases are made, & no increases will be made in section c.

To work out how many stitch increases to work over how many rows, first use row gauge to convert 1.67” to 15.865 rows, or rounded to 14 rows for my example. 

Next use arm circumference (10”, C on Figure 1) and stitch gauge to calculate how many stitches need to be increased: 10” – 2” (UA cast on) = 8” * (8.75 sts/2”) = 35 sts.  Because current adjusted number of sleeve stitches is 6, 35-6 = 29 sts, or rounded to 30 sts.  Since 2 sts are increased each row, 30/2 = 15 increasing rows will be worked.

My increasing row is worked as thus:

*Knit to marker, sm, k1, kfb, knit to 2 sts before marker, kfb, k1, sm*, repeat * to *, knit to end.

Consequently, I divided the sections a-c to 14 rows each.  Increasing row was worked 10 times on rows 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, & 13 for section a, worked 5 times on rows 1, 4, 7, 10, & 13 for section b, & no increases were made for section c.

 Underarm Shaping:

After all the sleeve cap shaping is done, creating a bit of slope along both sides of the UA cast on will make the garment fit better.  This is done on the body side of the garment.  The number of sleeve stitches will remain the same:

*Knit to 2 sts before marker, kfb, k1, sm, knit to marker, sm, k1 kfb*, repeat * to *, knit to end.

I worked the UA shaping row every other row for a total of 2 times, to create a slope of ~1”, before my UA cast on.

 Afternotes:

After the UA cast on, I increased a number of stitches to my chest measurement, and knitted the rest of the garment to my measurements as well, with no ease.

I-cord side edgings were worked contiguously.  Garment is finished with I-cord bind off.  With the front flaps, extra stitches were provisionally cast on, then finished with I-cord bind off.  This is because my I-cord cast on always differ from the bind-off in appearance, but you can certainly try the I-cord cast on if you want to recreate this garment.  When switching between stitches from Garter to Stockinette, or vice versa, I also corrected for the gauge difference.

If you use these instructions to design a garment or write a pattern, it would be nice to acknowledge me and also Susie Myers 😊.

For future design projects, you can find me on Instagram or Ravelry as wendylinkdesigns.  Please use the hashtags #contiguous & #wendylinkdesigns on IG & the same tags on Ravelry so I can see how well this method works out for you.