Carole's Baby Knits Forum

[Whipitup]

I am attempting the garter striped raglan baby sweater. This is the first time that I have attempted to knit a sweater from the top down. I have knitted a yoked sweater from the bottom up and discovered at that time that it is necessary to do some shaping with short rows so that the back of the neck rises above the front neck line. I wonder if anyone knows about this. It is on page 48 of "Knitting Workshop" by Elizabeth Zimmermann. Could this be used (in reverse) on the top-down raglan baby sweater? Or is it necessary in the infant size?

[CarrieB]

On a small baby's sweater it is not necessary to shape the neckline... the front will match the back in shaping, but the garter-stitch button band on each side of the the front will have the effect of "drawing down" the front a bit, so on the finished product the front of the neck will lie a bit lower than the back.
--C

[Whipitup]

Thank you for your response. It is nice that an infant sweater is relatively trouble free. I have since seen additional shaping methods for knitting the neckline on a top-down sweater. It looks like you can knit back and forth on the back neck stitches and then cast on more stitches in stages in the front. It is very nice to knit a top down baby sweater as a before trying a larger top down sweater. I have knit a lot of baby socks also. Knitting for babies is closer to "instant gratification" than knitting for adults. Also, babies are not concerned about style and color, just comfort. That means less stress.