Draft a Round Yoke Sweater Class

What Does This Class Include?

We will draft round yoke pullover sweaters in this class, beginning with the percentage system that was used for hand knitting patterns. Then we will draft patterns that are adapted from raglans. These fit most people more comfortably, and will include short raglan seams below the yoke, curved back, front and sleeve edges that are short-rowed below the yoke, and an optional back neck extension

You will receive PDFs of the lessons, and each meeting will be recorded with Zoom, so you can watch the recording if you are not able to attend. There is a huge amount of information. The PDFs will really make a book-length collection, so I recommend getting a 3-ring binder, or something similar, to keep all of it together.

 

Pattern Drafting Classes Zoom Meetings

Lesson 1: A Brief History of the Round Yoke Pullover and Using the Percentage System to Draft a Round Yoke Pullover

This is the oldest drafting method, made popular by Elizabeth Zimmerman in the 1960s. It is still being used by many hand-knitting pattern designers, though the percentages have changed over the years. We will draft a garment in class using this method as inspiration then alter the pattern to make a machine knitting pullover pattern

 

Lesson 2: Drafting a Round Yoke Pullover From a Raglan – Paper and Pencil Method

We will use a quarter scale raglan pullover pattern in class, cut it apart, and turn it into a round yoke pullover. A raglan pattern is provided for you to use in this class.

 

Lesson 3: Drafting a Round Yoke Pullover From a Raglan – DesignaKnit Method

DesignaKnit does not have a round yoke pattern at this time, so we must make our own. We will start with DesignaKnit’s raglan pattern, cut it apart digitally in the software, and convert it into a round yoke pullover. This covers only how to draft the garment itself and does not include stitch patterns.

 

Lesson 4: Calculate Decreases Between Tiers and Add Stitch Patterns to the Yoke Tiers

This lesson covers how calculate decreases between tiers using the “Magic Formula” and how to adjust length and width of the tiers to accommodate stitch patterns. This will include  “how-to-do-it” in DesignaKnit, but we will also discuss how to do it with punch cards. Punch card machines have much more rigid requirements to get patterns to stack vertically, so we will cover this in detail. This is a very long lesson, and we may need to continue it into next week.

 

Lesson 5: Converting Hand Knit Patterns to Machine Knit Patterns

Some patterns are easy to convert, some are not. We will cover what to look for, then work through converting a difficult one.

 

Lesson 6: Converting Hand Knit Patterns to Machine Knit Patterns, Part 2

Finishing what to look for in hand knit patterns and any questions about this class.

 

Dates and times are yet to be determined. This page will be updated with that information.