sew shoulder seams problem

[soolina]

Help please. I've puzzled over this problem for a while, and I'm stumped. I've finished knitting and blocking the Alexi free pattern from Berroco. Next is sewing the shoulder seam. Since this is a horizontal seam, I've assumed the mattress stitch won't work well. Also the edges are patterned; not stockinette so the typical shoulder seam (similar to Kitchener stitch) will stand out against the cable pattern. I have already bound off the edges as directed by the pattern so three needle bind off is out.

Other stitches available that I've found don't appear to be very good choices either: backstitch and crochet.

Any help or suggestions anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated.

soolina

[suzeeq]

Well, you can always undo the BOs and do the 3 needle BO. But you can still do mattress stitch, you're weaving the yarn in through legs of stitches whichever direction they're going.

[Rie]

Hi Soolina!

I love that cardigan. It's in my Ravelry queue. I knit a sweater with a pattern that was similar and I used this Berroco how-to video.
I don't think its going to show as a weird line of stockinette in the middle of your pattern. It might not be totally seamless, but people are used to seeing seams on ready made sweaters so I don't think it will look too weird. Maybe you could just try it with one shoulder and pull it out if you don't like it.

[soolina]

Thanks for your suggestions as well, Rie. I watched the Berroco video, thanks. I might just try seaming this way just to see if the stockinette stitch seam looks okay. I really do like this cardigan a lot too. Basically I love Aran knits and cables.

[soolina]

Thanks Suzeeq,

I wondered too why the mattress stitch wouldn't work, but all the information I've gathered about the mattress stitch indicates that it's for vertical seams. I haven't seen an explanation why. If anyone knows that answer I'd like to know it.

Plus undoing the bind off and doing the 3 needle bindoff is still an option.