It would be so much easier than seaming them!
So if a pattern says, “CO 28. Knit 5 rows increasing 7 sts evenly across last row.
Continue in St st, increasing 1 st each end of needle on 3rd, then every following 4th row.
Continue even until sleeve measures 6” or desired length to underarm, ending with RS facing."
I can do all that in the round, can’t I?
Can I do a garter stitch in the round?
If this is possible, I’ll never knit sleeves flat again! :woot:
You sure can!
A couple of things–if you are going to knit them in the round- do a new gauge swatch because your gauge will almost always vary a bit when you knit in the round. Fortunately, there’s a trick to doing an “in the round” gauge swatch flat. What you do is:
On your circular needle or with two of your double points, do this:
[ul]
[li]Cast on enough stitches for about a four inch wide swatch.[/li][li]Knit your first row.[/li][li]Here’s the key step: Slide the stitches to the opposite end of the needle, [B]without[/B] turning the work.[/li][li] Knit the next row if you are doing stockinette or purl if you are doing garter stitch (this may seem counter-intuitive, but when you are knitting in the round, knitting every round produces stockinette and knitting one round, purling one round produces garter stitch–so yes you can do garter stitch in the round).[/li][li]Keep doing the above steps until your swatch is long enough to measure.[/li][li] Bind off the swatch and measure your gauge! Or you can slide the stitches to a stitch holder to make it easier to rip them out if you want to.[/li][/ul]
Note that you will have long floats at the back of your work from sliding it over.
Have fun with “modding” your pattern! It is definitely nice to NOT have to seam. 
I always do sleeves in the round rather than seam them. I honestly don’t bother with a swatch at that point, but then again, I’m lazy. I just check it after I’ve started the stockinette section to see if it’s off.
:teehee: You’re lucky you can get away with that Ingrid.
If I don’t swatch, I’m ASKING for trouble. And then I end up in gauge denial and keep knitting. It’s never pleasant at my house when this happens. Hee hee.
Many people use a sleeve AS the swatch. It’s about the same size to start out with and you can see how the pattern works as well as check the gauge. If there’s a problem, then you haven’t knit as much as if you’d started the whole sweater. When I do a top down sweater I just start in and knit 3 inches or so and then check for size. Again, it’s about the same size as a swatch and if I have to start over, there’s not a lot to rip out. If it’s okay, I just keep knitting.
Gauge Denial–a new one to bring up at the Knitters’ Anonymous meetings. 
tigersagg, sometimes it is also appropriate to pick up sleeve stitches at the armhole after doing the shoulder seam and knitting the sleeve top down reversing the shaping. Then you can also avoid sewing the sleeve on.
Picking up around the armhole where there’s no shaping and no sleeve cap to the sleeve will work, but if it’s to replace a set in sleeve, it gets more complicated.
I never would have thought of that!
Maybe when I get better at the whole knitting thing, I’ll try that! Thanks!
And thank to everyone else for the info too!