Ice Maker Tips

On this page you’ll find tips and tutorials for all the techniques used in my Ice Breaker top! I review the following topics on this page:

Picking a size

There are 10 different sizes to pick from when knitting your own Ice Maker. Because of the drop-shoulder construction, I recommend picking a size that is approximately 5-10″ larger than your actual bust measurement. For example, if your actual bust is around 36″, then I would suggest picking a size whose finished circumference is between 41-46″ (so either size 3 or 4). Of course you could choose a size with less or more ease than that range depending on the look you are going for and the type of fiber you want to use.

And to learn more about “positive ease”, especially as it relates to drop-shoulder constructions, read my tutorial here.

One very important thing to note about sizing and Ice Maker and if you choose to use a plant-based fiber like I did in my sample:

Plant-based fibers have little elasticity to them. This means they provide nice drape and the qualities of the plant-based fiber are such that they will keep you cool in the warmer temperatures. However, one thing to keep in mind is that the lack of elasticity in these yarns (the thing that gives them such nice drape) can affect certain aspects of the fabric, such as:

  • It can cause fluctuations in your gauge since they don’t have much “give” to them as you knit. But in this piece, this is ok because I designed it in such a way that it would be quite forgiving.
    • Example #1: Using a drop-shoulder construction allows for lots of garment flow and allows for a wide-range of ease amounts.
    • Example #2: I kept the v-neck high so that if your row gauge loosened or stretched you would still have plenty of coverage.
  • It can cause the fabric to stretch with wear.
    • So if you are knitting with 100% cotton and you are in-between sizes, I would suggest going with the smaller of the two.
    • Also related to this, and if you choose a 100% cotton yarn, you may want to avoid knitting your garment too long because it will likely stretch even more with wear.

You can learn more about knitting with Summer fibers in this blog post.

Here are just a few examples from my Ice Maker test knitters so you can see examples of different amounts of ease:

Cary is wearing with 6″ of positive ease (and added length to the body), and used Sandnes Garn Line.
Sylke is wearing with 6.5″ of positive ease (and added length to the body), and used Sandnes Garn Duo.
Karen is wearing with 7″ of positive ease, and used Berroco Remix Light.
Denise is wearing with 8″ of positive ease and used a cotton/rayon blend (and incorporated a second color at the top).
Nari is wearing with 7″ of positive ease and used a Sawmill Creek Worsted Merino.
Lesley is wearing with 6″ of positive ease and used Jody Long’s Summer Delight yarn.

Yarn options

Ice Maker has a stitch gauge of 20.5 stitches = 4″/10 cm, which typically works well for a yarn classified as either DK or light Worsted-Weight. In the sample, I used Sandnes Garn Line yarn, a yarn very popular for Summer knits or if you live in a warm climate. This is because it’s fiber content is cotton/viscose/linen. This is how the company describes the benefits of this type of blend: “With this blend, the yarn acquires the absorbent and soft properties of cotton and viscose, combined with the cool feeling of linen. The combination of the sheen of the viscose with the matte finish of the linen gives the yarn an exciting structure and surface.”

If you are interested in using this same yarn, check with your local yarn shop because many LYS’s carry it! If not or you don’t have a shop near you, here are some online resources:

If you would like a similar cotton/linen blend with no wool in it, here are some other ideas that I think could work well:

Berroco Vera: 80% cotton, 20% aloe vera
Lang Amira Light: 100% cotton
Juniper Moon Zoey: 60% cotton, 40% linen
Berroco Iris: 50% Cotton, 32% Bamboo, 10% Merino Wool, 8% Yak
Berroco Remix Light: 30% Nylon, 27% Cotton, 24% Acrylic, 10% Silk, 9% Linen
Drops Belle: 53% cotton, 33% viscose, 14% linen

But if cotton/linen isn’t your thing, or you would just prefer something with some or all wool, Ice Maker can definitely work for wool yarns or other blends as well. Here are just a few ideas of some blends that I have worked with in the past that I like:

Manos del Uruguay Milo: 65% wool, 35% linen
Fibre Co Luma: 50% merino, 25% cotton, 15% linen, 10% silk
Sandnes Garn Duo: 55% merino, 45% cotton

Want to check out the yarn options my testers used? Check out this blog post!

Gauge swatching and gauge tips

The pattern gauge of Ice Maker is 20.5 sts & 32 rnds = 4”/10 cm in Stockinette stitch in the rnd after blocking. Because the body is knit in the round (and this determines your overall circumference), it’s important to gauge swatch in the round. If you are new to this, check out my tutorial here. 

I also recommend that as part of your swatching process that you also swatch a little bit flat, i.e, back and forth. The reason for this is because the yoke area of Ice Maker is worked flat. Many people’s row gauge is looser when working flat vs in the round, and so it would be good for you to know if that is the case for you as well. If it is, scroll down to read my tips on how to accommodate this when you get to that part of the pattern.

General Swatching Note: it’s more important to focus on achieving stitch gauge, so don’t worry if you can’t get the exact row gauge. You can adjust your body length or armhole depth as needed to account for any row gauge discrepancy. And I provide more tips below on how to do this especially as it relates to armhole depth.

Measure your swatch before AND after blocking

As part of your swatching process, I highly recommend you measure your swatch before AND after blocking (yes, you should definitely block your swatch!). This way you can know how much your gauge changes after the blocking process. For me personally, my stitch gauge was around 21.5 sts = 4″ before blocking but 20.5 sts = 4″ after (so width-wise, my gauge loosened up, i.e, grew, after blocking).

In regards to my row gauge, here’s an interesting thing about cotton or cotton blend yarns. Right after blocking, your row gauge (i.e, your lengths), may shrink up a bit. In fact, for me personally, right after blocking my row gauge was 33 rnds = 4″ (it was 32 rnds = 4″ before blocking). However, after wearing it a bit, the length grew back to the pre-blocked gauge (which is why the pattern lists the row gauge as 32 rnds = 4″). So why did it do this? Because cotton doesn’t have much elasticity and can be a bit heavy. So even though the length shrunk after blocking, after it was on my body and worn for a bit, it relaxed more and the length returned to what it was before blocking.

Adjusting for different stitch gauge

Garment width and overall circumference is determined by your stitch gauge, so if you can’t get the exact right stitch gauge it will have an impact on your overall garment size. But the great thing with the simple silhouette of Ice Maker is that it’s easy to make adjustments to accommodate a slightly-off gauge.

If your gauge is off, you have a couple of options:

  • Still knit the same size you were planning on, knowing it will come out a bit smaller or larger
  • Knit a different size in order to accommodate your particular stitch gauge.

In either case, how do you know what the measurement will be at your particular gauge? Follow these steps:

  • Step 1: Figure out your per inch stitch gauge. For example, if you are getting 22 stitches = 4″, divide 22 by 4 and you get 5.5 stitches per inch.
  • Step 2: Take the cast-on amount of the size you wanted to knit (or some of the sizes around that size) and divide it by your per inch stitch gauge. This will tell you what the finished circumference will be of each of those sizes at your gauge.
  • Step 3: Pick your size depending on the desired circumference you would like.

The only other thing to keep in mind is that when it comes to your armhole depth, when the measurement is given you should be looking at the inches/cm of the size closest to what your actual garment will be, not necessarily the size you are knitting. For examples, if your per inch stitch gauge was 5.5 and you had wanted to knit size 2 but you’re following the size 3 instructions to accommodate your gauge (since that will give you a size closest to size 2), in the armhole depth area when measurements are provided, you should be looking at the inches/cm listed for the size 2, not the size 3.

Working flat in the yoke

After you work the Underarm Divide (when your Front & Back is divided), you will stop working in the round and start working flat. The biggest difference with this is that you will now have WS rows which will be purled! If during your swatching process you did a little flat swatching as well (like I recommended above) and you discovered that your flat knitting was looser than your in the round knitting, here is what I recommend: When working WS rows when working flat, use 1 needle size smaller. This helps to make your flat fabric look closer to your in the round fabric.

For a tutorial on how to purl back with a needle size smaller, check out my video lesson here.

Note: If you use a yarn with little give/elasticity to it (like a cotton blend), you may need to work your RS rows with the needle size smaller as well.

Adjusting the armhole depth

If you want or need to adjust your armhole depth in Ice Maker, there are a few options you can go with. Because the v-neck is also part of the armhole depth, how I suggest you make adjustments will be different depending on your situation. I have outlined 3 common situations below and how I would suggest making the adjustment.

Situation #1:

If your after-blocked row gauge is the same as listed in the pattern but you just want to shorten or lengthen your armhole depth (compared to the schematic) for personal preferences:

  • First, determine how many rows you want to add or subtract. To do this, look at the pattern schematic and the “C” measurement is the armhole depth. Compare your size’s armhole depth to your desired and whatever that difference is, multiple it by 8 (the pattern’s per inch row gauge).
    • For example, if you want an armhole depth of 8″, but the pattern schematic shows it as 7.5″ for your size, that means you want to add 1/2″. Multiplying 1/2″ x 8 = 4 rows. So you want to add 4 rows.
  • Remove/add the rows you figured out above right before the “Front Divide” section (so in the “Begin Upper Front” section). In this section it says to repeat rows 3-4 a certain number of times and you would just adjust this based on how many rows you want to remove or add.

Situation #2:

If your after-blocked row gauge is looser from that of the pattern but you want your measurements to match that of the schematic:

Option 1: The easiest option is to only adjust the armhole depth for your particular row gauge in the section below the “Front Divide”. What this will do is adjust your armhole depth for your particular row gauge, but it won’t adjust the v-neck depth. I think in most situations this is totally fine because the v-neck in Ice Maker is pretty high as it is (only 6.5″ down from the top of shoulder), so even if it ends up a little lower due to your looser row gauge, it still will likely be not-too-deep. Here is what you would do if you go with this option:

  • First, look at the pattern schematic’s “C” measurement and multiple that by your per inch row gauge (rounding up to the nearest whole number). This will be your “target armhole rows” number.
  • Second, subtract your “target armhole rows” number from this number (depending on size): 52 (56, 60, 62, 66) (70, 74, 76, 78, 80). This number would be the number of rows to take out before proceeding to the “Front Divide” section (for the Front) and then on the Back, take out that number of rows in the “Back” section (before the shoulder shaping).
    • For example, if you were making size 4 and your “target armhole rows” number (from the first step) was 52, you would do the calculation of: 62-52 = 10 rows. So you would remove 10 rows in the “Begin Upper Front” section” and the “Back” section.
  • The remainder of the instructions would be followed as written.

By doing the above, this will adjust your overall armhole depth but not your v-neck depth. If you prefer your v-neck depth to be exactly as shown in the pattern schematic, but your row gauge is dramatically looser than the pattern, you can do more in-depth adjustments. I have outlined a possible scenario below that is based on a row gauge of 28 rows = 4″ (instead of the pattern’s 32 rows = 4″)…

Option 2: If you want your armhole depth as well as your v-neck depth to be the same as that listed in the schematic even with your looser row gauge, you can make more significant adjustments. I would only advise this if your row gauge was more significantly looser than the pattern’s row gauge of 28 rows = 4″ (instead of pattern’s 32 rows = 4″). I have provided the exact adjustments to make for this option based on this particular row gauge below:

  • In the “Front” section, you’ll repeat rows 3-4: 9 (11, 13, 13, 15) (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22) more times (for most sizes, this is different than that listed in the pattern). So you will have worked 22 (26, 30, 30, 34) (38, 40, 42, 44, 46) rows since underarm.
  • Follow the “Front Divide” as instructed.
  • In “Left Front Neck Shaping” and “Right Front Neck Shaping”, instead of repeating rows 1-2 13 more times, you’ll only repeat them 9 times.
    • At this point you will have worked 42 (46, 50, 50, 54) (58, 60, 62, 64, 66) total armhole depth rows. At the looser gauge of 28 rows = 4″, this will give you the same armhole depth as that listed in the pattern schematic after blocking.
  • In “Left Front Shoulder Shaping” and “Right Front Shoulder Shaping”, you’ll work rows 1-14 as written, but then for rows 15-22, you’ll want to continue the decreases at the neck edge on RS rows (so rows 15, 17, 19, 21).
    • So for the Left Front, you will continue to work “k2tog, k2” at the end of these RS rows.
    • And for the Right Front, you will continue to work “k2, ssk” at the beginning of these RS rows.
  • After completing row 21, you should have the proper stitch count for your Front as listed in the pattern for your total shoulder stitch count after all decreases are made.
  • Then you’ll work rows 23-24 and the rest of those sections as instructed.
    • Your v-neck depth consists now of 44 rows (instead of the pattern’s 52), giving you a measurement of 6.5”, the same as that listed in the pattern.

Working the back at the underarm

After you’ve worked the Fronts, you’ll move on to the Back section where, in step 1, you’ll be instructed to pick up and knit into the bases of the Right Front Underarm CO stitches. Where are those exactly? I have photos below that may help to better illustrate things. Note: this demo is from my bulky-weight Ice Breaker, but the technique is the same for his lighter-weight version.

Here are some additional photos that help illustrate this first row:

A close-up of those front underarm CO sts you will pick up and knit into.
Once you’ve picked up and knit the 3 stitches, it will look like this. Then you will knit across the back sts.
When you get to the other side, you’ll then pick-up and knit into the left front’s underarm stitches – the above shows where those are.

For a video of how this technique works, check out my demonstration here. It was for my Azalea top, so it’s a different design (and you pick up and knit a different number of stitches), but the technique is the same as what you need to do in Ice Breaker.

One important note: After you have worked the above process, you will likely have a little hole on either side (image below). That is to be expected and can easily be cinched up when weaving in your ends later. Using my Azalea top again as our example, if you watch this clip I show you how I used the duplicate stitch to cinch things up at the underarms.

Working v-neck trim

The v-neck trim techniques I work in Ice Maker are almost exactly the same as the techniques I used in my Audrey’s Pullover pattern which has several tutorials available. Click here for that tutorial page. Important note: the only difference is that due to the construction-style differences, you won’t have any top of sleeve stitches to pick-up in Ice Maker. You’ll just pick-up the Back Neck cast-on stitches and then you pick-up along the Fronts. So when viewing the tutorials on that page, just keep that in mind.

Making sleeves longer

Want to make your Ice Maker sleeves longer? It’s an easy adjustment.

Here are some tips for making your sleeves longer:

  • Follow the same pick-up and knit instructions as listed in the pattern for Armhole Trim, but use the same needle size as you had used for the body (not the smaller one).
  • If you don’t want your sleeves to taper, simple knit every round until you are approx. 1″ or so away from your desired length. Then switch to the smaller needle and work the rib trim as specified in the pattern.
  • If you do want a taper, you can work some decrease rounds. How many will just depend on long you actually want to make your sleeves. In general, here is what I suggest:
    • After picking-up stitches, work in stockinette stitch in the round (so knitting every round) for approx. 1″.
    • Work a decrease row as follows: k1, ssk, k to last 3 sts, k2tog k1 (2 sts decreased).
    • Then continue in stockinette stitch in the round, repeating above decrease round every 1-2″ until you are approx. 1″ away from desired length. But keep an eye on your sleeve circumference and make sure it’s not getting too tight (it’s easy to try on at this point, so I recommend doing that). If you are happy with the fit but want more length, just continue working in St st and don’t work any more decreases. If you just want elbow-length sleeves, you may just be fine with 1 or 2 decrease rounds.
    • Then switch to the smaller needles and work the rib trim as specified in the pattern.

Knitting techniques used in the pattern:

Below are links to different knitting techniques that are used in Ice Maker.

Long tail cast-on
Long-tail Cast-on
Joining to Work in the Round
Joining to work in the round
ssk decrease
yarn-over (YO)
Cable Cast-On
German short rows
Three Needle Bind-Off
Three Needle Bind-Off