Wee Cria KAL — Yoke setup

If you’re new to knitting sweaters or have difficulty visualising knitting instructions hopefully this and the other posts we’re planning about Cria will give you some tips!  Although they’re both knit from the top down, both Cria and wee Cria don’t start like a typical top down cardigan, where you’d cast on the neck stitches and go from there. If you own Little Red in the City or the adult version of Cria you may have seen this diagram that breaks down the yoke construction.

If you’ve seen the diagram and it still isn’t clicking, I’ve broken down and photographed the steps for the yoke construction, and although these photos are for the wee Cria, you could apply this to the adult sized pattern.

Wee Cria Yoke Construction

Right shoulder tab complete, cast on the left shoulder stitches right beside the first one.

Once you’ve got both garter stitch shoulder tabs on the needles you’ll pick up the stitches for the left sleeve and back of the shoulder. In the photo below I knit across the live stitches then I picked up the stitches up for the sleeve and then slid those stitches on the cord, and picked up the stitches along the cast on edge.

You’ll then cable cast on the stitches for the back neck. If you haven’t done a cable cast on beside live stitches before, you’ll be a pro after finishing this cardigan, as you’ll use this technique seven times!

If you need a little guidance check out the video we made for the Follow Your Arrow Mystery KAL Tips for clue 5b video at the bottom of this page. The cable cast on section starts at 1 minute 30 seconds. 

Once you’ve got those back neck stitches on the needles, arrange your knitting so it looks like the photo above, ready to pick up the stitches along the cast on edge of the first tab.

After picking up the stitches along the cast on edge of the first tab, place the marker, then pick up the sleeve stitches, place another marker, and then knit across the live stitches.

Once you’ve finished picking up the stitches your knitting should look like the photo above. Ready to work a wrong side row, the sections are broken up as follows: front stitches, marker, sleeve stitches, marker, back stitches, marker, sleeve stitches, marker, front stitches. At this point I’d recommend putting safety pins on the tops of the shoulders so you know which is the right side, so you can keep track of it while you’re working the short row section.

Part way through working the short row shoulder shaping.

Once the short row shoulder shaping is finished, you can see the shape of the cardigan starting to emerge. From this point onwards the fronts and back continue in garter stitch and the sleeves will be in stocking stitch. You’ll be working increases on the sleeves, adding to the fronts and starting the buttonholes.

On Wednesday I’ll talk about separating the body and sleeves stitches and give you a couple of tips for counting increases or figuring out what row you’re on. If you have any questions please leave them in the comments, and if you’re knitting along with us feel free to join us over in the Ravelry thread.