The Big Sleeve Fix

I was SO going to unveil the identity of the next knitting project in the lineup tonight, but Michelle wanted to see how I fixed the sleeve length on the Sunrise cardigan. And, um, I haven't really done much to the new project yet anyway.

Really, though, doing creative little fixes like this can be a little scary. This particular fix is a pretty darn simple one as fixes go, but getting over that jumping-in bit is the hardest part. I didn't have any trouble, but my heart was in my throat for a few minutes while I got started. I have to say that having seen many fixes like this on other blogs makes it a little easier to believe that I can do it too. (Even though I have, in fact, done similar fixes in the past - it helps me believe that they weren't flukes.)

So maybe you'll watch mine and get a little vicarious thrill out of it, and maybe remember it later when you need some confidence about chopping up and fixing your future project.

Let's get started. We start with the sleeves in question folded back to an acceptable length. In order to get to this point, it involved lots of standing around shrugging my shoulders, wiggling into different positions and then back, and fretting that whatever length I choose will be the wrong length. Eventually I settled on one, and marked the fold with stitch markers. Markers because I marked both sleeves so I could average out the measurements. Oh, and you can also see in this picture how the facing is tucked under and tacked down on the cuff.



So then I took the sweater off and unfolded the cuffs. And then I stuck a stitch marker in at the same point where the orange one was on the inside. Just for fun I measured it too. I don't know why, I just did. Looks like I wanted to get rid of about 2 3/4 inches. Then I counted how many rows the markers were from the edge on both sleeves - they were one row apart, so I moved one to match the other (so the sleeves would match in the end).



Now the real fun starts. I picked out the stitching holding the facing down, then unpicked the bottom of the seam just past the point where I planned to cut.



Then I grabbed a size 0 circular needle - not the size I knit the garment with which was a 4, but it's much easier to get a size 0 in those stitches without stretching them out. I used my needle to pick up all the stitches in the lowest row I wanted to keep - the one right above the orange marker.



The stitches I wanted were now safe and stable, so I used my sharp scary little scissors to snip one single spot in one single stitch in the row above.



And then I picked out that whole row. Confession time - because I'm a big chicken, I actually snipped that stitch in two rows above the one I wanted to keep. Which meant that I had to do twice the picking out, but it felt safer. Doesn't that look kind of scary right there?



Then I got a little distracted by Will Smith getting all sweaty in I Am Legend. mmmm....



Okay, and back to the sweater. Suddenly I had a needle full of live stitches waiting to be knit back down to the cuff.



I did my purl row for the turning point right there, knit eight more rows in stockinette and bound that sucker off. I sewed the seam back up with the yarn that was still attached, tacked the facing back down, and look!



Slightly shorter sleeve. Wash, rinse, repeat for second sleeve. I'll be wearing it to Shepherd's Harvest this weekend - unless the weather turns out to be warmer than the currently-forecast high of 58 F. TaDa!