After-Thought Set-In Sleeve Is a Success

For the most part, I’m a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants knitter.  When I finally reached the arms on my newest sweater, I decided at the last minute to try out a new-to-me sleeve technique that I refer to as the “after-thought set-in sleeve”.  After seaming the shoulders, I picked up stitches around the armhole and knitted an arm in place.  This technique uses short rows to knit back and forth to create a sleeve cap before then knitting in the round down to the cuff.

Overall, the after-thought set-in sleeve is easy to accomplish but I don’t think the wrap and turns are as pretty as regular increases/decreases in a sleeve.  However, the ease of construction and the elimination of seaming makes this technique very attractive!

If you are interested in the nitty-gritty details of this technique, By Gum By Golly offers a very detailed and picture-heavy tutorial that you can check out.

The concept art of this sweater (provided to me by my daughter) has fuller sleeves down to the cuff.  I tried to create this look in the sleeve with minimal decreases down the arm and then performing k2togs all around right before the cuff.  The sleeve looks pretty close to the original sketch, right?

I’m hoping to finish up the second sleeve in the next day or two.  Then I’ve just got to put on the collar and put in the vertical orange lines to finish the “bricks”.  Maybe by next week, my kiddo will be able to wear her new sweater.  🙂