Winston Pullover KAL / Funnel Neck Modification
Hello and welcome! This is my first blog post since the Winston Knit-Along announcement and I already have a finished project to show you! That's the beauty of super bulky knits, even an over-sized adult garment knits up in a flash.
Because this knit-along is meant to be fun, casual, and easy-going, WIPs (works-in-progress) are welcome and even encouraged! I myself came into the knit-along with a project already on my needles.
During last years knit-along I made a modified version of the pattern knitting a seed stitch Winston Pullover. It was a cinch substituting seed stitch in place of the stockinette and since then my mind has been swimming with other easy ways to modify the pattern for more Winston fun! I've had a turtleneck version in my mind and when the COVID lock-down began I decided to deep dive the stash and on a whim cast-on a yoke to see how this idea might play out.
Using a store bought knit sweater for inspiration I decided to keep the neckline low to create a wide funnel neck, making it more practical to wear in our mild climate here on Vancouver Island. I knew I didn't want to alter the pattern to include a drop sleeve however I did make minor modifications to the raglan increases to change the shape of the sweater slightly.
store-bought sweater / my inspiration
NECKLINE / Funnel Neck Modification
The funnel neck version requires zero math and very little modification. I used the pattern as written and simply knit the Neckband longer. The original neckband is knit to 1½"/4cm, for my funnel neck I worked until the neck measured 3¾"/9.5cm. That's it! So easy! For a longer turtleneck version you could easily play around with how long you make your neckband.
(I apologize for my Winston looking a little "bumpy", I was too excited and took these photos before washing!)
BODY / Raglan Shaping Modifications
I also decided to alter the raglan shaping a bit. I removed the underarm stitches and matched the raglan increases for the body and sleeve (rather than controlling them to keep the sleeve a specific circumference). You can see in the following photographs how this changes the overall shape.
original winston / with underarm stitches
modified winston / without underarm stitches
Notes /
- For funnel neck I picked up as written for (T) and knit the neckband to 3¾"/9.5cm in length.
- I omitted the underarm cast on stitches (L).
- To compensate for the sleeve and body stitches lost by omitting underarm stitches I added (L) stitches to my overall stitch counts for (F) and (G).
- I decided to match the raglan sleeve increases to the body increases. In my case, for size 34, this meant an additional 2 stitches were increased per sleeve.
- Because I had an additional 2 stitches per sleeve I needed to alter the number and frequency of my decreases for the sleeve shaping to achieve the appropriate number of wrist stitches (R).
- Below are the steps I used to recalculate the sleeve shaping where letters in parenthesis correlate with the pattern and X = stitches to decrease, Y = number of decrease rounds, and Z = remaining length of sleeve. Note that (F) should be your new sleeve stitch count, (R) and (S) are unchanged from the pattern, and (Q) is to be determined by steps 1-4 outlined below :
STEP 1 / (F) - (R) = X
STEP 2 / X ÷ 2 = Y
STEP 3 / (S) - 3" = Z
STEP 4 / Z ÷ Y = (Q)
Looking for the pattern? Find it HERE (don't forget to use code "winstonKAL" to receive 25% off until Aug 31, 2020). For knit-along details and a complete list of Winston Pullover KAL posts visit the knit-along page HERE.
Are you knitting along? I'm about to cast on another Winston, I hope you'll join me!
Fernwood Cardigan / Sleeves
Fernwood Cardigan / Picking Up Buttonband
