sleevish...

I knew there was going to be a reason for me to knit the sleeves first! When I was making my swatch, and, truly, I did read the original instructions and my notes, I thought, well how dumb is that? ‘Knit 10 rows at regular tension and then 1 row at T9’ – that’s an 11-row repeat! I’m never remembering that, so, I knit 9 rows regular and then 1 row loose so that every 10^th row would be the loose row. When you’re knitting the sleeve and need to remember to do regular increases in there, it just makes more sense to have a 10-row repeat. A-a-r-r-g-g-h! Did anyone else catch that? You know, maybe if I’d knit the Back first and already had that 11-row pattern down pat, but, no, I can’t even use that as an excuse because I noticed it on the swatch…

And then I get to the sleeve cap. I’m going to be brutally honest here – I haven’t made a sleeve cap where I’ve actually cast-off stitches at the beginning of every other row for a zillion years! That makes ‘steps’ in the outside edge and makes seaming difficult. In pattern writing, especially for multiple sizes, it is easier to do the cast off at the beginning of the next 2 rows thing, but in honesty, I shortrow the decreases – it’s quicker and gives a nicer, smoother edge for the finishing. If you’ve had a bit of experience and want to step up your game, here’s what you do:

For my new sleeve, the decreases via the old method but my new size, are:

45-0-45 sts. At RC116, cast off 4 sts, K1R, 2X; 2 sts, K1R, 12X; 1 st, K1R, 24X; 2 sts, K1R, 4X to RC158. Cast off remaining 9-0-9 sts, RC160.

Regular rules of shortrowing apply, as well as about wrapping, etc. You must hold at least one stitch on every other row to continue shortrowing, so in the original pattern, the sleeve cannot be shortrowed entirely because of the K 6 (8, 10, 12) R.

To shortrow here, set to hold. At RC115, always holding at side opposite carriage, hold 4 sts, K1R. Always at carriage side, loop yarn under last needle beside working needles, and at side opposite, hold 4 sts, K1R. Remembering to keep to the pattern sequence, and to move claw weights up under the working needles

as you go, at side opposite, hold 2, loop yarn at carriage side, K1R, 12X. Hold 1 st, loop yarn, K1R, 24X; hold 2 sts, loop, K1R, 4X to RC158. CAR. Return left side to UWP, loop yarn at carriage side, K1R. Cancel hold. K1R to right – everything back in work. Bring empty ns to work. T9, handfeed yarn and knit row to get nice big sts and chain off. Done!

If the holding position shortrowing is too much for you, you could try the ravel cord method of shortrowing:

https://knitwords.blogspot.com/2017/01/life-lessons.html

And, if you’re ahead of me and you’ve already knit the sleeves, hopefully I can inspire you to make a second ‘Kicking’ Around’!