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Author Topic: How do you lengthen a jumper?  (Read 18402 times)

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
How do you lengthen a jumper?
« on: October 17, 2012, 05:59:58 pm »
Does anyone know how you can make a jumper longer?  If I just pick up stitches from the row of ribbing above the cast on, then knit downwards, will that work or is there a craftier trick?  Ideally I would like it not to be too obvious  :knit:
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

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Ina

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • South Aberdeenshire
Re: How do you lengthen a jumper?
« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2012, 06:55:27 pm »
I've not found anything yet that's absolutely "un-obvious"...  I'm currently knitting one from top to bottom - that solves the problem! And I find that if you knit your main body first without the ribbing, then pick up the stitches and knit the ribbing downwards, it hardly shows; but it makes it so much easier if you want to lengthen it or, as has happened with my very favourite Guernsey, the ribbing comes to bits through heavy use.

Doesn't help you much at the moment, though!  ;D Sorry... I'm worried to try what you are suggesting (with my Guernsey, which has been waiting for me to deal with for almost a year now), because either you have the original ribbing sitting at the back, kind of doubled-up, which would be somewhat awkward, or you cut it off and then what... will it all come apart? No idea. :-\

Bionic

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Talley, Carmarthenshire
Re: How do you lengthen a jumper?
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2012, 06:56:22 pm »
Fleecewife I don't really know but you could just pick up stitches from the bottom of the ribbing and make a sort of peplum
Sally
Life is like a bowl of cherries, mostly yummy but some dodgy bits

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: How do you lengthen a jumper?
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2012, 07:10:07 pm »
 :wave: Fleecewife - I came to visit you wearing a jumper where my Mum had done exactly this!   :D  But the jumper's in blocky colours with different patterns, so having a block of a different colour and pattern around the bottom doesn't look odd.  (At least, I think it doesn't - if anyone thinks different, please don't disabuse me!   ;) :D)

I'll ring her later and ask her how exactly she picked up the stitches - will report back  :-*
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jaykay

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Cumbria/N Yorks border
Re: How do you lengthen a jumper?
« Reply #4 on: October 17, 2012, 07:22:35 pm »
You can do that, but the body stitch is half a stitch out of line and it annoys me (in my jumpers, not yours  :D)

Assuming you knitted it bottom up in the first place, I would knit the extra piece like this too - rib then body, and then Kitchener graft it to the rest of the jumper.

Ina

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • South Aberdeenshire
Re: How do you lengthen a jumper?
« Reply #5 on: October 17, 2012, 07:42:42 pm »

Assuming you knitted it bottom up in the first place, I would knit the extra piece like this too - rib then body, and then Kitchener graft it to the rest of the jumper.

Now that's a good idea - it also means that you don't have extra long ribbing... That's me supposing you'd graft it onto the body, not the bottom of the rib? But what do you do with the old ribbing - just leave it hanging there?

The problem is (at least with mine) that the ribbing always wears thin very quickly (probably my fault for always pulling the jumper down!), so if you just add something on the bottom, you'd soon end up with holes halfway up...

jaykay

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Cumbria/N Yorks border
Re: How do you lengthen a jumper?
« Reply #6 on: October 17, 2012, 08:10:37 pm »
Unravel the rib til you get to the body stitch, then graft the new piece on here.

colliewoman

  • Joined Jul 2011
  • Pilton
  • Caution! May spontaneously talk rabbits!
Re: How do you lengthen a jumper?
« Reply #7 on: October 17, 2012, 09:17:48 pm »
 :eyelashes: :eyelashes: :eyelashes: I am trying to understand, but you are all speaking a funny language :roflanim:
You could let me wear it for a bit, I can almost guarantee it will have stretched longer within 30 seconds ::) ;D
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Hermit

  • Joined Feb 2010
Re: How do you lengthen a jumper?
« Reply #8 on: October 17, 2012, 10:00:53 pm »
Or I could just wash it!

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: How do you lengthen a jumper?
« Reply #9 on: October 17, 2012, 10:09:52 pm »
If it's a stocking stitch jumper then no problem.  Unpick the seams to just above the ribbing.  Pull the first stitch of the stocking stitch out to the side so you can cut it then pull the end and the rib will come off.  Pick up the stitches at the bottom of the rib and knit until it is the length you want, then knit another rib.  This works with sleeves as well.

I have done this many times when my children were growing upwards but not outwards and added an inch or two so the jumpers lasted longer.  You can unpick the rib you have taken off to use the wool if you want.

Mammyshaz

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • Durham
Re: How do you lengthen a jumper?
« Reply #10 on: October 17, 2012, 10:21:33 pm »
Does anyone know how you can make a jumper longer? 

Crouch down, tuck the rib under your feet and stretch upwards with force  ;D
It works every time.  :innocent:

As for adding on with knitting  ??? Will watch this post with interest   :eyelashes:

SallyintNorth

  • Joined Feb 2011
  • Cornwall
  • Rarely short of an opinion but I mean well
    • Trelay Cohousing Community
Re: How do you lengthen a jumper?
« Reply #11 on: October 17, 2012, 11:35:33 pm »
If it's a stocking stitch jumper then no problem.  Unpick the seams to just above the ribbing.  Pull the first stitch of the stocking stitch out to the side so you can cut it then pull the end and the rib will come off.  Pick up the stitches at the bottom of the rib and knit until it is the length you want, then knit another rib. 

What Ma did is similar.  Cut a stitch and unpick the bottom row of the body (or top row of the rib, I guess it comes to the same) then put the loops on your needles and knit the rib down the way until you have the length you want.  Because the switch from upwards to downwards is at a change in pattern, the difference should not be noticeable.

Or you can also pick up the stitches from the cast on and knit away from them, but there would be a bit of a line across at this point.

I must admit, if I was better at Kitchener stitch, I would go for jaykay's unpick the rib, lengthen it (which you can now do as rib or rib+body pattern or all body, as you wish) and reattach using Kitchener.  I still haven't finished my toe-up sock, where I need to Kitchener across the 2x4 stitches I started from - it's kinda fluffy wool, it's felted a little and I blessed if I can see the stitches!   :roflanim:)
Don't listen to the money men - they know the price of everything and the value of nothing

Live in a cohousing community with small farm for our own use.  Dairy cows (rearing their own calves for beef), pigs, sheep for meat and fleece, ducks and hens for eggs, veg and fruit growing

Fleecewife

  • Joined May 2010
  • South Lanarkshire
    • ScotHebs
Re: How do you lengthen a jumper?
« Reply #12 on: October 18, 2012, 12:57:44 am »
Thank you everyone - great info  :thumbsup:    But Aiee !   -  that's scary cutting it, although it does seem a good way.  I'll practice on an old one first, as this is a brand new jumper which I just didn't estimate the length of correctly.  It's knitted on a circular needle so I suppose I just start anywhere.
 
My granny used to lengthen my brother's jumpers as he grew like a weed, but they always looked just what they were - lengthened  :D .  Thank you jaykay for pointing out that the rib would be offset if I just set off knitting downwards.  I had a feeling it wouldn't work  ;D
 
I love all the alternative ways of stretching it - believe me, I've tried them all  :roflanim:   Mammyshaz - you always cheer me up  :D
 
This is the Heb jumper I added some dyed Wensleydale to - it looks ok, just too short.
 
OK, once I summon the confidence to try I'll let you know how it goes.  Ina, will you try this way with your Guernsey?
 
Sally - it was having seen your jumper that made me realise I should be able to lengthen mine  :knit:
 
I can do Kitchener grafting but I'm not sure about for 200 stitches  :thinking:
« Last Edit: October 18, 2012, 01:02:55 am by Fleecewife »
"Let's not talk about what we can do, but do what we can"

There is NO planet B - what are YOU doing to save our home?

Do something today that your future self will thank you for - plant a tree

 Love your soil - it's the lifeblood of your land.

jaykay

  • Joined Aug 2012
  • Cumbria/N Yorks border
Re: How do you lengthen a jumper?
« Reply #13 on: October 18, 2012, 06:50:33 am »
You can tell I know about those offset stitches from having done it that way  ;)

In fact, if it were a precious jumper I'd Kitchener graft, if a work one, I'd knit downwards  :)

This is another benefit of top-down patterns.

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: How do you lengthen a jumper?
« Reply #14 on: October 18, 2012, 09:13:13 am »
Wow, this is like another world  :)

 

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