Too tight arm holes on DROPS 116-1 cardigan

#1

I’ve been knitting a DROPS 116-1 cardigan for my daughter. This is a bottom up knit with the sleeves knit on circular needles and then joined at the yoke. I got the yoke almost completely finished and had my daughter try it on. She finds the armholes too tight!

I’ve knit to the correct guage (if anything it’s a bit loose). How can I get the arm pits larger? There’s a fair isle pattern that begins at the yoke. If I add stitches to the sleeve width it would screw up the pattern.

I’ve unravelled back to where I start the yoke and join in the sleeves.

Thanks!

#2

You could frog back. BO more sts under the arms on the body piece. Add more sts to the sleeve. When you attach put the extra sleeve sts along the body BO sts and only keep what you need for the correct yoke count.

You could frog back and increase the sleeves by using a progressively larger needle. It would keep the stitch count the same put increase the size of the top of the sleeve. I’m not sure this would help though if the armpit is the problem.

#3

Thanks RochesterKnitter, I’ll try your first suggestion and see if it works.
Even if it doesn’t you’ve taught me something.
I never heard of the term Frog Back until now. I found a Youtube video on how to do it and wish someone had taught me that lesson 40 years ago!

#4

I’ve used one pattern by DROPS before, and had a little trouble with it as well! My problem had to do with measurements - I was supposed to measure the piece at one end (which was longer) and the other end (which was shorter). When one matched up correctly, the other didn’t.

So, I asked the lady at a local yarn store. She said that the patterns from DROPS were originally written in German, and that it had been translated…which possibly led to some information being left out, or at least unclear. Maybe that is part of your problem?