The seaming fell, by brilliant design, at a place in the color work that made it absolutely disappear.
I initially thought that the ends of the sleeve cap ended at the start of the underarm gusset, but when I realized I had exactly the same number of stitches for both, I attached them straight across.
Time for the sleeves. I began by marking the top center of the cap and then picking up every loop in sight at the edge of the cap, making sure I had the same amount front and back. I started knitting, and within an inch I knew it was too many stitches, because the fabric was puckering around the picked-up seam. I compared my stitch total to other worsted weight sweaters in the same size range. That was interesting because I was comparing my sleeve to cuff-up sleeves and had to decide that I wanted the number of stitches just before any shoulder/cap shaping. Yep, definitely too many. So I picked up every other stitch, and then knit, adding the missing stitch after every 3rd stitch, which resulted in the 4 out of 5 stitches that is so often recommended, and that worked out fine. Another inch along and I realized I needed to go down a needle size.
Then it was time to decide on length. I looked at the average length of my comparison sleeves to decide what length I wanted. I looked at my row gauge. I did math. I wound up wanting to decrease 20 stitches, and halfway through decreasing every 6th row I realized my math was off. Before I could rip back, KD suggested just decreasing the second half every 4th row, and that worked out perfectly. I added a stripe of color to tie in with the color work in the pattern, matching the reverse stockinette used. I worked 2 inches of 1x1 purl in the next smaller size needle, and then tried several bind offs before realizing the one I wanted.
I love this bind off. It goes by so many names - tubular, invisible, 1x1, Italian. I think of it as the cuff bind off I could never figure out on store-bought sweaters. How do they DO that? Well, I’m doing it, but I still don’t know how. Unlike Kitchener Stitch, which I’m an old hand at, I don’t really understand how what I’m doing is creating the result. Just like my beginner days with Kitchener, I have to follow the instructions by rote, trusting that someone out there knows what they’re doing. Also like my early years of Kitchener, I have to be careful: it matters that the loose loop of yarn being drawn through the needles stays in front of and below the knitting needles.
Needles: US 7, US 6, US 5
Yarn: Berroco Vintage in Cracked Pepper and Dried Plum
Pattern: who knows
Destination: the box, unless someone knows who it would fit. It's a 40" chest and 18" sleeves, meant for 2-3" of positive ease. It's got a turtleneck-small neck. And I still have some ends to weave in.
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