Let’s get this out of the way right from the start:
SOME PEOPLE GET STRANDED ON SLEEVE ISLAND!
We don’t want that to happen to any of us.
What happens?
You find yourself knitting and knitting, around and around and you don’t see real progress, you become discouraged because you are so close to being finished and yet the sleeves don’t get any longer! You feel as if you are the only one who has the brakes put on your knitting and now you are stranded, never to finish…and even if you finish the first one…
there
is
a
SECOND ONE!
You crawl beneath the nearest palm tree, close your eyes and resign yourself to never leaving Sleeve Island, and dream of The Others happily knitting at super sonic speed and leaving you in the dust…or rather, the sand.
That is NOT happening with us MK Teammates! We have lots of awesome things in our favour:
- You may have popped ahead to knit the sleeves before finishing the body because you want to lengthen it, so you will not have that “But I am sooooo close to being finished!” feeling nagging at you, which is a great relief.
- Your sleeves are really not that long (unless you decide to lengthen them) so they will be faster than regular sweater sleeves!
- For those of you striping: those stripes make every moment zip by! Those little stripes are secret weapons…like little bon bons you can’t stop eating!
- You seem to speed up, each round faster than the last—which may actually be closer to the truth than you think as the decreases shrink the circumference of the sleeves the longer you knit!
- We are going to snap lots of photos this week and keep our progress recorded! Seriously, looking back over incremental advances does give one reason to get giddy with the thrill of achievement! So snap all you can! Something fun to try, snap a picture frequently with your sleeve on top of a ruler and watch them grow! That is what I plan to do just for a bit of fun! You can do this even if your first sleeve is already done!
So here I am at the start of this week:
I am actually leaving all those ends out and about to wave me on and remind me “Girl! You have 2 sleeves AND a bit of weaving to do before this sweater is one for the books!”
How will you knit your sleeves? DPNs, circular needles, one at a time, two at a time (no kidding there are knitters who do that!)?
Be sure to share!
And if you get a moment, share below whether you are skipping ahead to work these sleeves and then returning to use up all your yarn on the length OR is this your last step before having to weave in loose ends and soak, block and wear this puppy?
WITH∞MEL 
I skipped ahead to the sleeves and have one done! They do go fast, like you said, because of the stripes and the shorter length. I haven’t decided if I’m lengthening the body, but I wanted to keep my options open!
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Great idea! Keeping options open is always a great idea!
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On Mel’s recommendation, I’ve done the sleeves first because I like a longer sweater. Just waiting to finish the body! This has been a great pattern to knit. I will definitely make at least one more of these. I also have my eye on the Hana Hou…
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Hana Hou is such a simple intuitive knit!
I am glad you are finding doing the sleeves first worked well for you! Be sure to post some progress pics though!
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I’m behind on the body but I want to do 1 sleeve so I can be sure of the fit around the underarm. I’m a little confused with the sleeve instructions. Starting with 63 stitches, and picking up 2 and then 2 more would give me a total of 67 sleeve stitches? Is that correct? From the first photo in the sleeve email, it looks like the side pattern should continue up through the underarm and into the sleeve. But that would mean I should pick up 2, then pick up 15 across the pattern stitches, then pick up another 2. Can I see a photo of the underarm?
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The underarm does not match up, it blends, but no it isn’t a match. I will try to post a pic on Instagram soon so check the hashtag! i will post one up here soon as well. Be sure to watch the video tutorials just posted to see how I picked up the stitches.
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I knitted about half of the body from the underarm to the bottom (as written), then tried it on and decided that while I could live with the sweater as written, I should probably go ahead and knit the sleeves to give myself the option of extending the sweater length. I’m knitting the Large size with one kit, so I want to make sure I get this right.
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I think you will like the sweater best when you add your own touch! Want it longer? GO GIRL! Want it without the split sides? LOTS of you emailed to say that! I say YES! YES! YES! Personalize it for sure!
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