Hey everyone, I had this thought today and I was just wondering if it would work…
When it comes to sweaters, I am not a fan of seaming. I know that you can knit the body in the round and split to front/back when you get to the armhole shaping, but I was wondering if this trick could be applied to sleeves as well? Namely sleeves which require shoulder seaming, like set-in.
Is it possible to knit the sleeve in the round (bottom up) but only up to the shaping, and switch to flat from there? So the sleeve shaping would be worked flat, like it was originally intended. What I had in mind was that I would then only have to seam the sleeves to the shoulder of the body, and tighten up the armhole.
For me, this works in theory, but would it be practical? As in, would the finished garment be structurally sound? Would it be weird having seams only in the shoulder and the armhole? Would that look a bit iffy?
Sorry for the long and silly question, but I’m genuinely curious and not experienced enough to know whether it would work or not.
Thanks!
Welcome to KH!
It’s a good thought. There are many patterns for sweaters with a yoke that have the body knit bottom up and sleeves knit in the round from the cuff to the armhole bind off and then joined to the body to knit the yoke. I don’t see why you couldn’t do it the way you suggest for set in sleeves with the sleeves knit in the round and the caps knit back and forth.
There are also sweaters knit top down that incorporate sleeves from the beginning with very little seaming.
Thank you for the reply! It seems there are many different ways for seamless sleeve knitting. I suppose it all depends on the pattern as well. In any case, it’s good to know there are many ways to do this.
want to check out Lion Brand on-line. They have a pattern that sounds like it might just be what you’re looking for. If you go to their site and look for the “Raglan Sleeve Pullover”, I’m almost certain they have it in children’s and adult’s sizes and it got very high ratings. I am currently working on the pattern but have not gotten more than a few rounds at the bottom … I guess I have too many WPI’s!! Good luck and I hope this helps!
(Pattern #: 10112-Child)
Free Knitting Pattern: Child’s Raglan Sleeve Pullover
“Is it possible to knit the sleeve in the round (bottom up) but only up to the shaping, and switch to flat from there?”
Yes, I do this ALL the time.
Caveat: If your flat gauge (likely looser) and round gauge (likely tighter) are a little different you may need to change needle size at the changover.