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More on the Sleeve

August 27, 2010

Hi Spud & Chloë Friends,

Here are more words of wisdom from Wendy:

Working your first top-down raglan in a situation like this is an unbelievably good thing because you’ll get lots of help and you are, in effect, custom knitting your own sweater. I think many people did this for themselves many years ago and now that we have patterns and are pretty dependent on them, we don’t think so much for ourselves or on our own. This is why I’m so happy to be here.

Regarding raglan measurements: I use a super complicated spreadsheet that “knows” the eventual circumference at every point in time when I design. But when you work the way we are working in this KAL, we don’t know all the factors in advance, but we can plan. That said, when you add body stitches under the arm, you are effectively adding the same or “a close” number of stitches to the sleeve as well. Why? Because when you place your reserved sleeve sts back on the needles you will work around the sleeve and then when you get to the underarm section where you earlier added body stitches, you’ll need to pick up and knit stitches to close the underarm (and remember to place a marker at the midpoint if you plan on shaping your sleeve). You do NOT have to pick up and knit the SAME number of stitches. In fact, you can probably get away with picking up about 75% of them, if you want to.

So, knowing your goals of Body and Sleeve circumferences, it’s a good idea to do what I do: Make a sketch and plot out the goal circumferences and stitch counts. Trying on as you go is a good idea, too, because trying on as you go doesn’t lie, while your goal stitch counts might (due to gauge issues or moods that make you knit tighter or looser at any given time). The stitch count that you planned for may not be perfect, but the trying-on part is really the only way to know if it’ll fit or not.

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