Seetaa no Monogatari Part 2

During our session #2, I shared my "issue" about having the same gauge when I used my US7 to US4 needles.  (Apparently, I was the only one who really made a gauge swatch using multiple sizes.  One classmate made the minimum size (barely a 5" square); while my other classmate made a swatch nearly as big as mine but it was because she was testing out various patterns she was considering for her sweater.)  Kim thought it was weird that I was compensating for the rest of the swatch but, in the end, my gauge swatch was what it was.

So, with Kim's help, I settled for using my US5 needles since that seemed to have the best weave and weight (not too loose or tight).  That came out to 19 stitches per 4" => 4.75 stitches per inch.

Then it was time to calculate how much to cast on. :)  Since I was the only one who was going to make a boatneck sweater, my instructions on how I needed to calculate my cast on stitches was a bit different.  

First, let me explain the basic schematic that we needed to calculate.  Basically, this is how you'd figure out a general basic raglan (no matter what type of collar you're going to do, except boatneck).  It looks like this:

Here's how you would calculate what you need to cast on with a basic raglan:

(stitches per inch * back of neck measurement) + ((stitches for back / 3) * 2 for 2 sleeves) + 4 seam stitches (1 each for the left front & back and the right front & back) + 2 front edge stitches (1 each for left and right side) = total number of stitches needed to cast on

This is what a boatneck raglan looks like:

It looks like this because you're going to measure how wide you want you boatneck around your entire neck and as such, you'll have the front and back in your calculation.  Here's how to calculate what you need to cast on for a boatneck raglan: total inches you want your boatneck to be * stitches per inch.  

So, mine came out to be: 24" for my boatneck.  So, my calculation was: 24" * 4.75 = 114 stitches total.  This is how my schematic looks like:

And here's how I had divided up the stitches: (Total # of stitches / 2) + ((total # of stitches / 2) / 3 * 2) + remainder of total stitches remaining.  

But, now that I had time to think about how the stitches were divided up ... And, I think the initial was I split it up is wrong because, when you think about it, if the sleeves are 1/3rd each of your total cast on stitches (as how it's calculated in the basic (any collar but a boatneck collar calculation), then the back and front needs to be the remaining 1/3rd of the total cast on stitches.  As such, then the back and the front should be 1/6th each of the total cast on stitches.  And, I think the schematic should look like this:

Despite my reservations on how I was instructed to divide up the stitches, I bravely did as instructed and followed the steps.  After I got about 9 rows done, I remeasured my sweater to see if my gauge was still 19 stitches per 4" and guess what?!  It turned out that it's now 21 stitches per 4"! :( *yikes*  That's 5.25 stitches per inch (meaning I now have 1 extra stitch per inch)! And, my collar was starting to look weird:

When looking at it, where you see the needles, that's the back.  Where you see those yellow stitch markers, between those stitch markers are the shoulders.  Where you see that small space between the stitch markers (at the bottom of the picture), that's the "front".  It just didn't seem right ... like why would the shoulders start where my shoulders are?  To be clear, a raglan looks very much like a baseball T-shirt so, that means, the sleeves are over your entire shoulder, not starting from your shoulder ... In essence, it should look like this (except without the pocket):

And this is what the shoulder should look like & where it should be located:

But, when you look at what I have, it doesn't look like the top portion of this picture - at all! :(  I panicked and e-mailed Kim to ask if my number of stitches were ok.  She e-mailed me back saying that I should rip out what I have and cast on the correct calculation if I liked the way the fabric was.  Then, because I was mulling over the math of my sweater, I e-mailed her my question about how I thought the stitches should be divided and how my "top" was coming out funky as well. 

I'm going to rip out what I have, recast on what it should be (5.25 * 24" = 126) and redo the stitch count to what I think it should be too.  If it's still funky looking, I'll probably need to stop by on Monday to see if my sweater is turning out how it's supposed to look like ... :(  We'll see ... I think I need some luck here ... :P

By the way, here's what I'm ideally shooting for (just with 3/4 sleeves instead and maybe ribbed cuffs instead of a rolled cuff (or maybe I'll keep the rolled cuffs) - I'll figure that out when I get to the sleeves :P):