I hear some people don’t like knitting sleeves. I’ve heard of sweater projects languishing, armless (or worse – with only one sleeve), for months or years. Let’s be honest, I’ve done it too. My February Lady Sweater sat without sleeves for months when I could have been wearing it instead.
Sleeves are just boring. Maybe it’s the fact that you have to knit two of them, exactly the same. I don’t know about you, but I hate to knit the same thing twice.
[The grey sleeves are from the Tangled Yoke Cardigan – for me]
My trick to stave off boredom and actually finish the project? Knit them both at the same time. Two balls of yarn, same circular needle. This means that all the shaping you have to do will match – and they’ll be knit at the same gauge. No more ending up with a sweater with one short sleeve and one long sleeve. Working both sleeves at the same time makes it feel as if you’re done faster, too.
The same trick works for cardigan fronts, especially when you reach the dreaded instruction, common in older patterns: “Left front: work as for right front, reversing all shaping.” If you do them both at the same time, no need to try and remember how you did the right front!
The only thing you have to worry about is knitting from one sleeve on to the next with the same ball of yarn… then you get some kind of mega-sleeve monstrosity and have to rip back. No fun.
[The red sleeves are from the Balloon Sleeve Jacket, sans balloons, for Danielle]
Hmmm, maybe the endless lineup of sleeves is why I haven’t finished anything in a while.
Also, now the word “sleeve” looks really funny after I’ve typed it and read it a bunch of times. Does this happen to you?
[Shhh, the blue one’s a secret – except for the pretty yarn, Miss Babs Yowza in Forever]