You can add short rows to any knitting pattern to make your sweater fit! You can also modify the short rows that may already be included to work better for you.
Short rows provide a way for you to make your knitted sweater fit you and knowing how they work is an important knitting skill for you to have in your knitting repertoire.
I am wearing the Beads T in this Episode of the Daily Knitting Podcast
You can add short rows to any pattern. Short rows make the back of the sweater neckline rise up higher than the front and they also help create sloping shoulders on the pullover.
Here is how I decide where to place my short rows when working from the top down.
The purple line is the first short row, the blue is the second, red is the third and green is the fourth. The first short row should be approximately 60% of the stitches, and the fourth short row should be approximately 80% of the stitches.
In my example, the neckline is 100 stitches. Since the first short row is supposed to be 60% of that number, the first short row is 60 stitches. If the beginning of the round (BOR) is at the center back, you would first knit 30 stitches, turn your work and work the German Short Row (or whatever short row technique that you love), then work back the 30 stitches to the BOR and then 30 additional stitches. You then turn your work and work the German Short Row, then work back to the BOR. Now you have worked 30 stitches each direction.
You now have to determine the number of stitches to work past each turn around point. The ultimate goal is to get around 80% or the stitches, or 80 stitches, on the fourth short row. That is 20 more stitches than the 60 that was worked on the first short row. Half of that 20 is worked on each side, which brings is down to 10 additional stitches to be worked on each side. We have 3 more short rows to get that done.
10 sts/3 rows = 3.33 sts to add on each short row
Since you can't knit .33 of a stitch, we will round that down to 3 stitches. On each of the following short rows, you will work 3 stitches past the previous turn around point. On the German Short Rows, you can easily see the turn around point because the German Short Row creates a double stitch, and when you get to that stitch, you just knit it together as one stitch to resolve the short row. Then work 3 more stitches and turn again, work back to the turn point on the other side, resolve the short row, then work 3 more stitches.
By the time you do this for the 3 remaining short rows, you are at 78 stitches worked, and that is pretty close to your goal of 80 stitches! As I always say, knitting is flexible, and you have achieved your goal. Alternatively, you could work an additional 3 sts on short rows 2 & 3, then work an additional 4 stitches on the 4th short row. That would put you at exactly 80 stitches.
In this example, the short rows are worked right after the ribbing, or whatever neckline treatment that is used. On a circular yoke sweater, if the instructions call for an increase round right after the neckline, you could work the increase round, and then calculate your short row numbers based on the stitch count after the increase.
My next example is for a top down raglan. The percentages are the same, but on a top down raglan, you are increasing every other row at each raglan point. That increases 8 stitches every other round.
When I add short rows to raglans, I like to work the first short row just after the front sleeve raglan sections, and that is often a bit more that 60 percent of the stitches. I prefer to place the turn around points on the front rather than the sleeve so that the raglan increases are not altered by the short rows.
In this example, the cast on number is 98, and the BOR is on the back adjacent to the back left raglan section. The first short row is worked on the RS. Work from the BOR to the first raglan, work the raglan increase, work the raglan section, work the increase then work across the sleeve stitches. Then increase, raglan, increase again. Work 1 st, turn for the first short row. Work back on the WS, across the back, increase, raglan, increase, sleeve, increase, raglan, increase, work 1 st and turn for the first short row.. You have increased 8 stitches, so your total stitches is now 106 sts. Your first short row worked 70 stitches.
106 total stitches/70 stitches = .66 or 66%
That is above the 60% goal, but that will still work. Each short row is essentially 2 rows and includes 1 increase row. So each row has 8 stitches increased.
If we use the 3 stitch increment from the first example, since the CO amount is really similar, by the time you work all 4 short rows you will have a total of 112 stitches worked.
98 CO + 32 sts increased on raglans (8 x 4) = 130 total stitches
130 total stitches/112 stitches = .86 or 86%.
That is obviously higher that the 80% goal, but still within the acceptable level. 14% of the stitches remain unworked at the front of the sweater. That is about the limit that you would want. As I said, knitting is flexible, but this is about as far as you would want to go.
We could go down to working 2 stitches beyond each turn point, but I caution against that, because in my experience, 2 stitches is just too close and the turn points are more visible. Another option would be to work 3 short rows rather than 4. I like 4 for my body with worsted or DK weight yarn.
These formulas will work with any weight of yarn. If you are using fingering or sport weight yarn, you may work more stitches after each turn and may work more short rows. For a bulky yarn, I would still work 3 stitches after each turn, but would work less short rows since your row gauge will also be lower.