the blue blog archives: a scenic train ride to sleeve hell

I had some time this weekend to restart the long sleeves for my maroon nothing but a t-shirt. After discovering last week that I'd made the first sleeve too long (and too wide), I ripped it back to about mid-forearm length and started again. I decided to go with a completely straight sleeve, since that will give me a subtle bell shape when worn and is easy-peasy to knit. A few hours of knitting in Claudia's living room with fun knitbuds like Lauren, Paula, and Kathy, and I had finished that first sleeve again. Sleeve hell reared it's ugly head though when I picked up my finished sleeve to show the gals and immediately saw that I'd accidentally increased a stitch somewhere in the middle. Ugh!

posted by alison at 9:11 am | in nbatty

Comments

If someone notices the increase, well they're standing too close!

Posted by: Leslie at July 27, 2005 9:17 AM

I agree--if you hadn't pointed it out, I certainly wouldn't have noticed! In general, though, why DO sleeve patterns always start with the cuff and work up toward the shoulder? I don't think I've ever seen one that started with the shoulder cap and worked downward so that length could be adjusted as needed. Why do you suppose that is? Curious!

Posted by: Deb at July 27, 2005 9:33 AM

It's the Calmer!! Lovely yarn, yes, but loves to split in 2 and you don't notice it until you realize you've "accidently" increased because it splits so evenly....use the galloping horse rule Alison, NO ONE would see that even with a microscope!

Posted by: Debi at July 27, 2005 9:48 AM

Will you make the same 'design feature' on the second sleeve?

Posted by: Lauren at July 27, 2005 10:36 AM

Only if you'll come up again to distract me, Lauren! ;0)

Posted by: alison at July 27, 2005 11:05 AM

Good for you...I wouldn't either..makes it more special, I love the color and the display with the train set.

Posted by: michele at July 27, 2005 12:16 PM

Just a question I've often wondered about sleeve cap design: do you follow some kind of formula for the shaping to make it fit into the armhole or just make sure the final circumference matches that of the armhole? I guess you would decrease 1 stitch at each end for awhile but how do you know when you should start the bind-off sections and how many of them to do? Just curious!

Posted by: janet at July 27, 2005 12:52 PM

wow, awesome invisible increase! nice technique ;-)

Posted by: gaile at July 27, 2005 1:05 PM

NOBODY would notice that! I am glad to hear you say that you are not going to fix that. Makes me feel better about ignoring mistakes if I think no one will notice!!

Posted by: patti at July 27, 2005 1:48 PM

Right, Gaile, they're always perfectly invisible when you DONT'T want them there!

That's what I'm here for, Patti! ;0)

Posted by: alison at July 27, 2005 5:01 PM

Hey. At least you got to knit.

;-)

Posted by: claudia at July 27, 2005 6:46 PM

and besides, if you use it for the right arm instead of the left one, it will be underneath and to the back!
^_~

Posted by: tania at July 27, 2005 7:37 PM

You may have posted this already, but how many extra skeins for long sleeves? I'm doing the 36 size. One of the yarn stores in town is having a sale and I can get in-stock Calmer for $8 a skein. I'd like to take advantage of this.

Posted by: Dena at July 28, 2005 7:48 AM

Um, well, I'm not done with the sleeves, so I can't say for sure Dena, but I'm guessing 3 skeins for them. Of course the orginal pattern plans for some yarn to be used for sleeves, so depending on how much you have left after the front and back, you might be able to get away with only buying 2 new skeins. If you made tapered sleeves instead of straight sleeves like I am, your chances are pretty good that 2 extra might be enough. Once I'm done with the sleeves, I'll be sure to post a pattern for the sleeves with yardage estimate for everyone.

Janet, I posted this in February when I was designing the t-shirt, for those who were curious about sleeve design:
"All I know I learned from studying other patterns and reading Maggie Rigetti's Sweater Design in Plain English and Cheryl Brunett's Sweater 101 workshop. And if you're looking for a sleeve tutorial, you've got to check out Jenna Wilson's awesome Knitty articles on sleeve design here and here!"

Posted by: alison at July 28, 2005 8:51 AM

I would never think twice about going back for that either! I don't think anyone could tell, unless there was a knitter with a magnifying glass maybe :)

Its looking lovely though :)

Posted by: Dani at July 28, 2005 9:59 AM