OK Knitters - technical question...

[Ceolas]

I did the Mason Dixon baby kimono. It's dead easy. Basically knit in one piece and sew up side and sleeve seams.

You cast on 40 sts for the back, increase for the sleeves then decrease sleeves and increase fronts to get the cross over effect. With me?

If you look at some of these pictures you'll see that at the bottom of the front there's a straight bit before the cast off edge. However on mine, by the time I'd increased enough (back to 40 sts, same as back) I was at the bottom edge already. Still with me??!?

Now I did mine in Debbie Bliss Cotton DK (which I feel is on the thick side for a DK), 4mm needles and stocking stitch with a 5 row garter stitch border.

I'd like to do another one and get more of a straight run at the bottom. What should I change to achieve this?

Yarn?

Garter stitch all the way instead of stocking?

Knit up back more before increasing for sleeves?

[NotQuiteCockney]

I'd knit the back up more, giving a longer sweater.

Thing is, I don't see why you'd end up without the straight bit. If you change any details of how you're knitting (yarn, whatever), then it would change size all over, which wouldn't fix your problem.

Oooh, unles, say, you are still in the early stages of knitting, and changing your yarn hold, so maybe your tension changed while knitting?

[Marina]

NQC is a peerless knitting "technician", I can't help with that. But I definitely agree that Debbie Bliss dk cotton is on the thick side, so I'd recommend Jaeger Aqua cotton, which is a thinner dk yarn and mercerised (am a bit of a mercerised perv).
There are a lot of apricot kimonos out there Ceolas it took me a couple of sweaty minutes to clock you didn't knit all of them

[Ceolas]

No my tension is pretty even.

Have bought some Jaeger Baby Merino DK to see if that makes any difference. Will also add a couple of cms to the back for good measure.

This one in garter stitch too

Had a trip to JL this morning and probably just as well I had a fed-up four year old in tow or I could have gone mad!

[NotQuiteCockney]

How is the measuring done for the back? Does it say how many rows to do? Or just give a measurement? Maybe your height/width ratio for your garter stitch is different from other people's? I thought garter was always half as high as it is wide, but maybe it varies?

[Ceolas]

You are supposed to knit up 10cm before increasing for the sleeves. No width measurement is given.

I did the first one in stocking stitch...

[Tamum]

I don't know the answer, but different yarns have different ratios for stitches per 10cm compared with rows per 10cm, don't they. Maybe a different one would improve things without you having to change anything else? They don't give a tension measurement for both stitches and rows, do they, that you could check?

[NotQuiteCockney]

Woah! You did the first one in stocking stitch. Is this one in stocking stitch?

But normally it's in garter stitch?

[Tamum]

Oh crumbs yes, that would be the answer if so- sorry, I didn't look at the pictures.

[NotQuiteCockney]

Tamum, I know the ratio of rows/stitches/inch varies from yarn to yarn, but I figure that's just randomish. A yarn couldn't have a quality that changed the row/stitch ratio, could it? Am I missing something here?

If your problematic kimono is in SS rather than GS, that explains the problem altogether. 10cm of SS is quite a few rows fewer than 10cm of GS. But the increases to make the front are a set number of rows. There's your problem. If you're doing the second kimono in SS again, and want 5cm straight, add 5cm to the back measurement, and that will sort it.

[NotQuiteCockney]

Do "knitting technicians" wear lab coats? I can't really do coveralls, they really don't suit me ...

[Ceolas]

OK I'm doing garter stitch this time. Have added 2cm anyway so hopefully it'll fit a bit longer!

Will photograph the two when they're done.

Thanks so much tech team

[Ceolas]