Shortening Sleeves

Measure the sleeve length and
determine the amount to remove.

Open the seam and mark the row to cut.

Cut just one stitch about 2" in from the edge

and unravel one row, feed live stitches
onto a needle and remove the cuff.Re-hank the yarn, wash and dry to remove kinks
and re-knit the cuffs.
Sew the sleeve seams, block the cuffs with the wet towel
method and wa-laa: sleeves 1.5" shorter!

DOH!: When knitting sleeves, do not make them the exact length they need to end up because blocking will make them longer. Instead, estimate how much bigger your sweater will become through blocking and knit the sleeves that much shorter. In this case, I blocked the body of the sweater across the shoulders/bust bigger by about 2" and the sleeve length by about 1". (This is easy to accomplish with just the normal spread of wet wool.) Taking off 1.5" will make the cuff hit at the perfect point and honestly, if one days work makes the sweater wearable while before it lay folded in the drawer for years, it's worth the time.

Pattern: The Cardi-Jacket from The Urban Knitter by Lily Chin, page 44. I don't know if the book is out of print by now, but check your LYS for a new copy or the link for used copies. It's a fun book with a couple of truly fine designs in it, this jacket being one. It's a surprisingly quick knit, pieces go together like a dream and the resulting sweater is, obviously, fabulous.

Details: Knitting began July 12th, 2004 and the sweater was finished September 9th, 2004. Sleeves shortened April 23rd, 2007. Yarn is gray Plymouth Alpaca with a strand of Misty Alpaca in cream and a #6 (4mm) needle. Eclectic buttons from Beppa, a local fashion design company which is open to the public several times a year in order to sell vintage and collectable buttons as well as fabric remnants.