knitting, techniques

Sleeve surgery

I cut my knitting. Don’t worry, I knew what I was doing! When I was knitting the garter st ribbing for the cuff of the Tangled Yoke sleeve I had some trouble getting gauge. My “in-the-round” gauge was completely different than my flat knitting gauge. I thought I might be able to block the imperfections out, but it was a no go. The cuff kind of wows out when it’s supposed to be a nice gradual increase. I knew I wouldn’t be happy with it.

The fix was to cut off the cuff and reknit it from the top down since the rest of the sweater is assembled. First I put all the stitches on a 2mm circular needle. (Click to enlarge any of the images.) I picked up the stitches in the first row of stocking stitch after the garter st rib.

When I was satisfied that I had all the stitches on the needle, I took my scissors and snipped a stitch in the row below the stitches on the needle.

Then came the unpicking which was a bit tedious, but perfectly safe since all my live stitches were comfortably on the needle.

When the cuff was completely removed from the sleeve I ripped it out. At first it was a bit sticky. The mohair content in the yarn was really hanging on to the other stitches. Once I got it going though it was quick work.

I put the unravelled yarn onto a knitty noddy to help manage it. I tied off the ends by looping them through the skein so it wouldn’t tangle when I took it off the knitty noddy.

Into the sink to soak and onto a hanger to dry. Tomorrow I’ll be able to knit the cuff back on and the sweater will be almost finished. I just need some buttons.