While the cyclists had their first big mountain stage today, I’ll be covering a stage of le Tour de Gansey that was rather short and sweet. It’s time for…
Stage Five: Underarm Gussets
On a traditional gansey, the body is split at underarm level and the front and back are knit separately; the stitches are then picked up from either side of the body and knit down to create drop sleeves. But these drop sleeves are slightly special: to ensure that the wearer has full range of motion at the arm, the gansey incorporates a gusset under the arm. The seam stitches are increased to form a wedge under the arm opening, and then are decreased back down again as the sleeve is knit, forming a diamond shape. Here’s what the first half of one looks like:
(as you can see, I’ve put the gusset stitches on a holder at this point, ready to form the bottom of the sleeve). I chose to knit a reverse-stockinette gusset, with a border of twisted knit stitches; the reverse-stockinette will allow the gusset to sink in towards the body, and the twisted stitches give it a decorative, um…twist. Here’s what the inside of the gusset looks like:
Since the gusset is reverse-stockinette, the inside is…you guessed it, stockinette! Nothing terribly fancy about it, really…just a nice, practical, traditional way of making a little more room for the arm in a gansey sleeve.
Stay tuned…tomorrow I hope to cover Stage 6!
whit::knits 
i really dig the way the gusset looks. when does this tour end?
I love the idea of an arm gusset. I’m excited to see how this turns out!
Darling gussets – I love them in reverse stockinet! You’re really powering ahead with this project – I predict you’ll finish by the 27th with ease. Are you knitting the sleeves cuff-up and then sewing them in, or picking up stitches around the shoulder holes and working down? I recommend the latter – it feels like it’s going faster, at least. And you do save yourself some sewing.
neat! i don’t know if I would have thought of that, but it makes sense!