Saturday, February 7, 2009

Sleeve Island

I know a lot of people struggle with knitting sleeves. I've certainly heard of Sleeve Island; I've just never visited before now. But folks--I'm there.

(And trek? I swear this is brown yarn. It even says "Nature's Brown" right on the label. My camera can't read and refuses to acknowledge any tone but grey. Honest.)

I think it's the 3x3 ribbing. I'm pretty sure I've knitted at least a mile of it, but I don't seem to be getting any closer to the end. I've been thisclose to finishing the second sleeve for two days, but I've fallen into the knitting time warp and I can't get up. I've started to resent my freakishly long arms. If I had arms that were even close to a normal length, I'd be done by now. But no--I have the Stretch Armstrong version. (Really. I make my sleeves 21" from the underarm to the cuff. And my arms are less than 11" around at their thickest point. My husband calls them "tendrils". If my head were bigger, I could totally play a movie alien and no one would know the difference.)

I am rather proud of my sleeve caps, though.

Instead of working the sleeves flat and sewing them in, I picked up and did a short row cap before knitting around to the cuff. The ribbing sits perfectly in the armhole with no puckering or lumpiness at all. And not having to do any sewing is a big bonus. (If you're making this sweater, as some of you have indicated you plan to, I'll be happy to share how I did this. Just drop me a line and I'll email you directions.)

I have high hopes of finishing this sleeve today and moving on to the collar. (More 3x3 ribbing. *sigh*) Then it's just (yeah, right, "just") the pockets and zippers and this one will be all zipped up!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your sleeve caps = perfection.

Cecilia said...

i would love to have your sleeve cap directions, I've always thought knitting on the sleeves would better than sewing them on (any sweater!) thanks! ckrue@verizon.net - Cecilia

Anonymous said...

The sweater is beautiful!

Tracy Purtscher said...

Absolutely fabulous!

knitwych said...

Your sleeve cap is perfect! As for all that ribbing, I'm sure I'd lose my religion. I hate knitting ribbing. It's my least favorite part of sock-knitting. I can't imagine doing two full sleeves like that - even though they are gorgeous.

BTW, I'm glad you mentioned the color issue. You described this yarn as brown, but it showed up as green on my screen, and I thought maybe my laptop's colors were off. My camera has a similar tendency - it refuses to acknowledge lime green. Kinda frustrating for me, because I knit my dad a pair of multicolored socks for Xmas and the green doesn't show up in any of the photos!

knitwych said...

Correction to prev comment - the color showed up as GREY, not green, on my screen. Got green on the brain, I guess. ;-)

sheep#100 said...

You seriously need to write down the sleeve cap instructions - so that I will not have to reinvent the wheel.

Looks great.

Lydee said...

lovely sleeve caps! can't wait to see it FO!

Lydee said...

lovely sleeve caps! can't wait to see it FO!

MIMI said...

Hi, Suzanne;
I know your sweater is BROWN, I saw it! It's gorgeus. I would like to have your sleeve cap directions, too. I prefer NOT sewing either.
Thanks.
MIMI.

Haley said...

this looks great. thanks for saving me so much work by figuring these out. you are the best!

Natalie said...

I can't wait to see it finished - gorgeous work!

Kim said...

Your sleeve caps rock. Query: is sleeve island more like Gilligan's Island or Fantasy Island? Guess it depends on the sweater and your state of mind.