My EZ notes: seamless, set-in sleeve notes

2013: My EZ year in notes
Yesterday I mentioned that I recently finished a sweater for HamBone, a pull-over v-neck sweater that is completely seamless.

St. Andrew’s Sweater on 14yo HamBone
When I went to start this design, ds had some requirements: not too bulky or loose, a higher v-neck than most, only a bit of colorwork if absolutely necessary, no wool (he thinks it’s scratchy), red.
Here’s the sweater, which I titled “St. Andrew’s Sweater” for my 2013 patron saint. Notice the St. Andrew’s Crosses just above the ribbing? The yarn is Tatamy Tweed from Kraemer, a low-maintenance acrylic/cotton blend in “Cherry Red” with the colorwork in “Flannel Tweed”.
This sweater is completely, totally seamless and done without any sewing (with nods and smiles to EZ … she understood!)
- the body is made in the round to the underarms (which makes the colorwork that much easier as you ALWAYS see the right side)
- the sleeves are knit in the round to the underarm
- the underarm sts (on both the sleeves and the body) are placed on hold for later grafting while all the other sts are joined onto one big circular needle
- the sleeves/body sts are dec for a bit (see EZ notes below) and then the V-neck is started (this is the first time you’ll work the WS as you’ll be going from the left-neck edge all the way around the back to the right neck edge
- once you’ve gotten down to a few sts, you’ll work just the left front, than the right front and then finish the back
- the shoulder stitches are three-needle-bind-off and the back neck sts are slipped to hold for the ribbing
- sts are picked up from center back, down around the front and back up to the center back; a k1p1 rib is worked (mitering the center V-neck sts) for just a few rows and then all is bo loosely.
- the underarm sts are grated or 3nbo, all ends are tucked in and the sweater is finished except for the blocking!

Close-up of St. Andrew’s sleeve, armhole, shoulder and neck
Tada! Easy, yes?
Here are my notes on the sleeve/body decreases:

sketch of dec directions
- 8% (or 10sts) for each underarm
- join all the sts, placing 1 marker each exactly where the body joins the sleeves for front and back (4 markers placed)
- work on all sts for an inch … you don’t want to start decreasing under the arm!
- begin dec EVERY rnd, eating-up the body sts right where they join the sleeve sts until front measures shoulder width of recipient (so HamBone is 13″ from shoulder-bone to shoulder-bone)
- start dec sleeve sts every other round until half the original sleeve sts – underarm are left; than start dec sleeve sts EVERY rnd until sleeve sts left equal sts held for underarm (8%)
- place a marker at half-sleeve-st (so 10 sts, place a marker between the 5th and 6th sts)
- working only on front, dec sleeve sts EVERY row (yes, you’ll have to do p2tog/p2togTBL every other row) until you hit the stitch marker.
- work short rows on shoulder sts to give a slight slant to shoulders
- work back the same, making sure you work the sts all the way across the back (so both shoulders at the same time) and then shape the shoulders with short rows
- 3-needle-bind-off the shoulder sts from the WS
Easy-peasy, yes?
Oh and ds LOVES his St. Andrew’s Sweater so it’s all good …
Any questions or comments?