Joining Shoulder Seams

[sop 1]

I just completed my first sweater(**), a miracle in itself, and need finishing help. It is a one piece front and back child's sweater; no separate arms. the arms are just added on each end when you get to that point in the St st from the bottom up.The side finishing was nice and hidden (mattress stitch )but the shoulder seams look pretty rough since the colums were meeting each other rather than side by side! I have started another just like the first one and would like to do a better job. Any suggestions would be very welcome. I am a "self taught" beginner plus! I have knit hats on circular needles successfully and millions of scarves!
** actually my first sweater was horrible....so stretched and huge it would fit our car!!! I keep it as a symbol of my determination to learn this art form!!

[knitqueen]

Shoulder seams are finished the neatest when using 3 needle bind off or kitchener stitch. Both work with live stitches on the needles so you can't bind those stitches off first if you want either of these two methods to work. The 3 needle bind off does show a 'seam' but it is very finished looking and as long as you have the exact same # of stitches on the front and back, the stitches will line up perfectly and will look very neat. The kitchener stitch is a seamless finished look, you also require the same # of stitches on front and back.

There are videos for both methods here under the heading 'Finishing':
http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting...iques/misc.php

[Hepsibah]

I can agree with that. I Finished my first sweater a few days ago. When the pattern called for binding off the top, I slipped those stitches onto some scrap yarn instead then used the three needle bind off at the end. It's no more difficult than the regular bind off, the pattern matches perfectly and the join is much stronger than I could possibly have stitched it.

[sop 1]

Unfortunately, I have done a regular bind off on the first side and am still knitting side two. Can I undo the bind off or somehow make it work better with the side I have yet to complete? I sure wish I had asked this question prior to just blasting on through with side #1!

[CarmenIbanez]

Yes, you can undo the bind off. I recently had to do that to fix a portion of the sweater I am working on. The three needle looks really good.

[knitqueen]

There is also a good link here:
http://learntoknit.lionbrand.com/cgi...eyarn&faqKey=1
which shows different finishing techniques with decent illustrations, including one for joining shoulder seams.

[sop 1]

Thanks! I will try on sweater number one if I can see the stitches well enough. I'd rather mess that one up than the current one! I also had the same problem when I "turned the corner" at the underarm! I think a new pattern is in order!

[kathpdx]

There is also a good link here:
http://learntoknit.lionbrand.com/cgi...eyarn&faqKey=1
which shows different finishing techniques with decent illustrations, including one for joining shoulder seams.

Oh, thank you thank you KnitQueen! I know this is an old thread, but this link saves my sorry self!! I just needed to see some kind of pictured to be sure how to do this!

[murdo]

That's a great link knitqueen..this thread is really helpful. I wondered if you folks had suggestions for joining "staggered" shoulder seams...where the cast off is on three levels.
Many thanks!

[kathpdx]

Murdo -
I don't know if you are asking for additional help on that staggered seam. I can't offer much except my first experience yesterday (talk about fresh in the memory! But beware my novice level!!) I ended up having to unseam one shoulder because I wasn't careful enough as I seamed...

What I found I needed to do was be very careful in finding the correct (close to the edge) inner stitch bar to pick up. I needed to do what seemed to be a little counter-intuitive vs. keeping a straight line.

Well... good luck to us!

Kath