Slick Set-in Sleeves

Set-in sleeves give a sweater a crisp, tailored look. And for easy knitting, you just can’t beat sleeves knit from the top down. Pick up stitches from the body, shape the sleeve cap with short rows, and you avoid the bulk of a seam and the fuss of easing a sleeve cap into an armhole. Learn to adapt an existing pattern to this approach, or to design according to your measurements.

Duration:

3 hours

Skills required:

experience knitting sweaters

Materials:

smooth, light colored, worsted-weight yarn (400 yards, if you want to complete the class sample sweater); US size 7 (4.5 mm) needles, or size needed to obtain gauge of 20 sts = 4" (including dpns, two circs, or a long Magic Loop circ if you wish to knit the lower sleeves in the round; otherwise, straight needles are fine); clip-on stitch markers; smooth, contrast-color waste yarn; crochet hook roughly US size G/6 (4 mm)

Homework:

Knit the back and right front of a child-size cardigan from the top down as follows:

Back: Cast on 50 sts firmly. Keeping selvedge sts in stockinette (do not slip the first st of every row), work even in stockinette for 4¼" (11 cm), then increase 2 sts every RS row 4 times as follows: k1, M1, knit to last st, M1, k1 » 58 sts. After the last increase row, purl one WS row, then break the yarn and transfer all sts from needles to waste yarn.

sweater-in-progress, after completing upper back;
click to embiggen

Right front: Holding the back with its RS facing you, pick up and knit 13 sts from the back’s cast-on edge, starting at the right armhole edge and extending for 2½" (6.5 cm) across the right shoulder. Work even in stockinette for 5 rows, then increase 1 st at the neck edge every RS row 6 times as follows: knit to last st, M1, k1 » 19 sts. After the last increase row, purl one WS row, then cast on 6 more sts at the end of the following RS row » 25 sts. Work even in stockinette until the right front measures 4¼" (11 cm) from its initial pick-up row, then increase 1 st at the armhole edge every RS row 4 times as follows: k1, M1, knit to end of row » 29 sts. After the last increase row, purl one WS row, then break the yarn and transfer all sts from needles to waste yarn.

sweater-in-progress, after completing right front;
click to embiggen