what IS raglan?

tarrentella · 03-09-2007, 07:06 AM

i hear it a lot - particularly in reference to sweaters but what does raglan actually meen?

tarri

Boogs · 03-09-2007, 01:18 PM

Raglan indicates that the seam of the sleeve goes from the underarm up to the neck as opposed to a drop sleeve or set-in sleeve, for example.

suzeeq · 03-09-2007, 03:38 PM

It's where the seam is slanted from the underarm to the neck.

sue

Jan in CA · 03-09-2007, 07:05 PM

Along with the other replies... it usually means the pattern is seamless so no setting in of sleeves and seaming!

of troy · 03-10-2007, 06:37 PM

its named for a commander (general?) in the English forces -in the Crimean war!

you can google Lord Raglan (and read about him) and about Lord Cardigan --who gave us the sweater style with that name, and about Lord Kitchener--he was a lieutent then (or some other lower rank-adn saw active duty in the crimean war) but by WWI (or was it WWII?) was 'semi retired' and went about the UK teaching knitters how to graft the stitches in the toes of the socks they were knitting, rather than finish them by seaming...(the socks being knit for the war effort) and gave us the the term "kitchenering" which is was until then commonly known as grafting!
i sort of remember who they were/what they did.. but not quite..

(anyone from UK or canada (where there is a city named for Kitchener) will correct me...)

other famous person from the same war --which you may or may not remember from history-- but most likely remember the poem, "The Charge of Light Brigage" (Into the Valley of death, rode the 600!)-which is about a famous battle from the war-- is Florence Nightengale. (and at that time, it was not uncommon to knit bandages. (long strips not unlike 'ace bandages') for wounds.)

Funny how history is recording in knitting, isn't it? for many--especially to those in US, the Crimean war is a vague footnote. but Lords Raglan and Cardigan live on as sweater types!