This post was originally sent via email for our Summer Knit Along.
Welcome to Sleeve Island and the final month of our KAL! To finish by the end of this month, ideally you should have your cardigan body completed and sleeves on the needle by now. Drop-shoulder sleeves are delightfully straightforward to knit, with simple shaping along the inner arm and no short rows or complex shaping to demand your attention. The biggest challenge here is one we’ve dealt with in the yoke of Game Day–having two different stitch pattern rates to keep track of. The upper arms feature purl ridges like the goal panels every 6 rounds, and the rate of shaping decreases varies by sizes, so you’ll need to track both. If you didn’t find the perfect method for doing that previously, revisit our July 12th KAL newsletter “Keeping Track of Stitch Patterns” and find a new method to try!
As the sleeves get narrower with shaping, eventually you may find that you don’t have enough stitches to work comfortably on a small circumference circular needle. Although the pattern recommends switching to DPNs, this is a great place to use the Magic Loop technique and reuse your longer circular needles from the body. Learning the Magic Loop helps make the most of a set of circular needles, and using it with an Interchangeable Needle Set helps streamline a needle collection without limiting your project options.
Picking up Stitches for Your Second Sleeve
Jen, our Content & Outreach Administrator, shared with us a clever way to easily pick up stitches that we recommend trying on your second sleeve if you have all the tools on hand! Using a Radiant Wood Interchangeable Crochet Hooks Set for Tunisian crochet, she attaches a crochet hook to one end of her Interchangeable Needles cables and then speedily picks up and knits stitches using the hook instead of a needle tip!
Sleeve Resources
More Game Day Knit Along
Use the hashtag #KPGameDayKAL to see more posts on social media, and check out Knit Picks Podcast episodes from June 1st 2022-September 5th 2022, to hear about our hosts Lee and Stacey’s own Game Day cardigans in progress.
