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Short Rows as Bust Darts
Example Project: Barbie Tube Top
I'm not especially obsessed with Barbie, but I thought it would be good to have a super-fast (and it is) way to see how short-row shaping creates room for the bust.
#2 dpn needles
Supersocke 100 Emotion II-Color by ONline
Gauge: 3 sts/cm, 4.2 rows/cm
Row gauge is essential for these calculations. However, it is well-known to be shifty AND a big, fat liar. If you want to be absolutely sure everything will be perfect, you should make a super-swatch of the shaping you are planning. I'm working in metric this time because the measurements are too tiny to be worked well in inches.
Around the body, directly under the arms: 13 cm
Length, measured under the arm, from just under the arm to where the bra band would lie (the bra band is the part of the bra that wraps around the body, directly under the bust): 1.5 cm
The same length as above (from the same vertical positions on the body), only taken over the bust: 2.5 cm
Short-rows must be worked in pairs, otherwise you end up with your work inside-out, so remember that you may have to round up or down to arrive at an even number.
Subtract the length over the bust from the length under the arm to arrive at how many short rows you need to add: 2.5 cm - 1.5 cm = 1 cm
Multiply the length under the arm by the row gauge to see the number of rows you are dealing with in the first place: 1.5 x 4.2 = 6.3.
To the (round down to) 6 rows in the bust, we will be adding 4 (rounded down from 1 cm) rows. So, there will be 10 rows over the bust and 6 corresponding rows on the back. I've worked the sample piece in a variegated sock yarn, so that you can see the actual extra rows as a deeper length of one color. The whole project takes less than an hour, so you're not losing a lot of time to master this technique.
For the top, cast on 38 stitches, join in the round, and work k1, p1 rib for 4 rounds to get started.
Half of 38 is 19, so we will work our short rows within the 19 stitches for the front of the top.
Time for Kind of a Strange Analogy
Imagine if we were to simply insert our 4 short rows among our 6 regular rows, like a hamburger. In other words, there would be 3 complete rows, 4 short rows that are all the same length, and then 3 more complete rows. The complete rows might look like two hamburger buns, with the short rows as the meat in the middle. This is fine, but you would have to pinch the sides of the bun together if you want to hide the meat in the middle. It's not the smoothest look.
Instead, we stagger the short rows so that there are two sets of them. One set of rows gets shorter as you go, and the other set of rows gets longer as you go. I have to drop the analogy here, because I don't want to try to imagine how to make a hamburger patty in the shape of a flying saucer.
If you are knitting along with this, knit 3 rounds plain.
The Anatomy of Short-Row Shaping
Essentially, any group of short rows consists of 4 parts.
Part 1
This is the set-up row or round. This could be imagined as the complete row that is interrupted by the set of short rows. It is later finished off in part 4. This is really only to get your working yarn to the position needed to work the short rows. In this case, I will allow it to be an "extra" row, and not count toward my 10 total rows over the bust, because I have rounded down twice, so this set-up row will add a little more ease into the work.
In this example, knit 18 stitches, then turn. Mentally, I have divided the work into the front and back halves, each with 19 stitches. I'm leaving 1 stitch untouched at the "end" of the front half, simply because, in a real sweater, I might be using that stitch for a seam edge or shaping of some manner and want to leave it alone.
Part 2
These are the short rows that get progressively shorter.
In this example:
Shorter short row 1: sl1, place marker on working yarn, purl 16, turn.
Shorter short row 2: sl1, place marker on working yarn, knit 15, turn.
Part 3
These are the short rows that get progressively longer.
Longer short row 1: sl1, place marker on working yarn, purl 14, pick up and purl 2 together with the marked thread, purl 1, turn.
Longer short row 2: sl1, place marker on working yarn, knit 15, pick up and knit 2 together with the marked thread, knit 1.
Part 4
This is the completion of the set-up row or round. It is worked normally, except that you may have a marked thread or wraps to pick up and knit as you go (you do this time).
To finish the top, knit 3 rounds plain, then k1, p1 for 4 rounds and bind off. Darn in those ends.
Conversation
Karen Wehrle has a blog called Knits Gone Bad and talks with me a bit about fit and her aspirations toward becoming a math monkey (her term).
Links
Lucy Neatby (who is scheduled to teach in Chicago later this year, check it out!)
Math4Knitters, Crafty Living: Show 11 (with links to nonaKnits' short-row tutorials)
