Boy, what a challenge. Does anyone have a simple and easy to understand the process to convert the set-in sleeves to raglan for a cardigan sweater??? This pattern is knitted in the round up to the arm holes. After binding off 2 sts each end of the separately knitted sleeves and 4 sts on the body at each armhole, I must insert the sleeves (that will be tricky, in itself), using 2 maybe three circular needes, and proceed to raglan up to the neckline and complete the project with a shirt-type collar. Quite the challenge but am willing to try any suggestions.
Either i don’t understand you (or you don’t understand the directions.)
It sounds like you are knitting a bottom up sweater with “seam less” sleeves (a bottom up raglan or bottom up yoked sweater.)
you knit the sleeves --to the underarm (put them aside)
you knit the body.also to the underarm.
(lets presume its a sweater not a cardigan–(if it is a cardigan, well pin it closed!)
so now you have 3 tubes… (the sleeves are tubes (or will be)and the body is a tube.
NOW imagine you are standing (and looking down into the tube (is a oval… (a flattened circle)
you knit to arm place and bind off some stitches and do the same for the other arm.
[COLOR=White].[/COLOR]___________
[COLOR=Red]|[/COLOR]__________ [COLOR=Red]| *
[COLOR=Black]The [COLOR=Red]red[/COLOR] are the cast off stitches.
next R (row/round) you add the sleeves.
[COLOR=Red].[/COLOR]__ ._________ .___
|[COLOR=Red]||[/COLOR]___[COLOR=Red]||[/COLOR]|
the red under arms stitches are not knit (worked.) the body circ is just bigger… (you have one big circle) (there are 2 bars… some under arm stitches (sleeve) and some underarm stitches (body)
You start at a point (in the text art, the red dot) in real knitting, somewhere (usually left back shoulder… but if it was a cardigan, it would be center front.
the new circle is made of 3 tubes–made into 1.
sleeve, body sleeve.
the under arm stitches (red) are not knit.
you can (i do!) use 2 circs… (but you can almost always just use 1 circ (i can, but i don’t–i like the 2 circ method )and i am a 2 XL…
as you work the raglan decrease, every R gets smaller… (and less crowded on the needle(s)
Its a bit tricky (conceptually) butnot really hard at all once you actually knit it.
[/COLOR][/COLOR]
I actually have the same question - how do I convert a set-in sleeve to a raglan sleeve? In my case - the cardigan sweater I pattern I plan to make is done in sections - make the back, make the 2 fronts, make the 2 sleeves, then sew everything together. I am planning on making the back and fronts without seams - but I’m having trouble figuring out how to do the sleeves as raglans. Sweater is knit from the bottom up.
Any suggestions would be helpful. The pattern is the Minimalist Cardigan from Knitting Daily
Thanks,
Malinda in Rome, NY
I got the book The Sweater Workshop from my local library and liked it so much I bought it. It is instructions on designing and knitting sweaters from the bottom up all in one piece. I recommend you see if you can find this book, it makes it very understandable how to add the sleeves to the body. I have designed and made several sweaters using this book and will do more in the future.
http://www.knitpicks.com/Sweater+Workshop_BD30595.html
Thank you very much for the suggestion - I checked the link in your post and the book isn’t available until July 3 so maybe a trip to my local library is in store.
If I know me, I’ll end up buying it even if the library has it 
Malinda in Rome, NY
The link was just a reference so you could see more info on the book. I bought it a couple of years ago at a local bookstore and I’m sure you could get it at Amazon or elsewhere on the net. I just used KP because they’re having a sale and I was just there yesterday buying too many books.
I checked it out from my library and it’s got a lot of useful information in it. I already sort of make up my own patterns, so I didn’t need to buy it, but it was good to read through and take notes on certain things.