Design As You Go

Both the front and back squares are now knitted and I have to decide how I am going to proceed. Since I have about 900 yards of yarn I can not make a decent size afghan, so this will become a sweater, probably with short sleeves or no sleeves...we'll see.

 The basic module is a 90 degree triangle x four= the square. I cast on 40 stitches and decreased on one edge (every right side row) until I ran out of stitches. I always slip the first stitch of every row to facilitate the picking up of stitches later.
The long edge of the triangle is 15" at this point, but will grow when it is blocked. I am going to be adding height and width to make this a 40" wide garment, at least 25" long from shoulder to hip.

What I love about modules is that everything is based on very simple math. It has to be simple, or I wouldn't be doing it. In this first diagram I could pick up 20 stitches per triangle and make two wedges on the front and then two more on the back and join them at the shoulder points. From there I would be expanding sideways.
In the second diagram I am using individual mitered squares to construct a yoke. Again I am picking up my stitches along the edge of the square.
I know that I can add height to meet the necessary measurement by making modules in multiples of ten plus one center stitch. Of course I am always trying to avoid breaking the yarn or having to seam anything. And to make the fit nicer, I may round out the inside angles with smaller triangles...Square necklines aren't always so nice in knits, imho.




The third diagram is a top down view with the neckline yoke connecting both the front and back squares. The corners of the yoke are mitered just like the smaller mitered squares, only the sides are extended the full width of the square, and then long enough to cross over the top of the shoulder. I am guessing I will count out how long that should be and make my shoulder stitches to fill that length. Since I know I will be adding width from the shoulder and sides of the square, I think I might do a provisional crochet cast-on at the shoulder so I need not have ridge when I go for the sleeve. That is, if I do this design.

 Or I could turn the square on point and build the shoulders and hip parts out from there. I have done this before and know how it looks. Here's the Heartbeat Sweater which makes the center 'heart' first and then adds the top and bottom sections. Easy peasy. 

I have so many choices and now I'll have to decide which is most interesting to try. I should consider what the sides need to be before start, as there could be more knitting adventures ahead.