Hi, I’ve finished a sweater and it’s all sewn up. My big mistake - not checking that the sleeves were the right length as I measured for a set sleeve and the pattern is actually a drop sleeve so now they are too long. Is it possible to undo the sleeves from the bottom cuff upwards? I think I tried to unravel knitting from the cast on edge once before and it didn’t work - I got into a big snarl. So would like to check before i start undoing it and find myself in a worse mess. Worst case scenario is to ditch the project or find someone with really long arms to give it to :teehee:- just cant bring myself to undo the sleeves and redo the armholes all over again as I needed to make adjustments there too - just too much work. I’m a numpty to make the mistake in the first place, just hope someone can guide me in how to do a salvage job?! :knitting:
Unravelling Backwards?
If there’s ribbing at the bottom, it won’t unravel easily without a lot of trouble. But you can cut the cuffs off and unravel the sleeve a few inches, then redo the cuffs. That’s supposing the sleeve is in stockinette.
Thank you Sue, it’s hard to think of putting scissors near knitting with malice aforethought (scary biscuits!) - I’m fainthearted and haven’t yet got my head around the idea of steeking, (who dreamed that one up?) so cutting the cuffs off just didn’t occur to me. The sleeves are indeed stocking stitch so I’m going to do just what you’ve suggested. I may yet wear this sweater thanks to you! :happydance:
If it’s the cast on edge you might have to pick out each one. A pain maybe, but you’ll enjoy your sweater more if you do it. 
If it’s the cast off edge it’ll just unravel.
I had to extend the sleeves on my last sweater and it was the cast off edge so it was easy to take out the bind off and continue ribbing.
Jan, when you say “pick out each one” are you meaning that each and every stitch of the stocking stitch will need to be picked out and the unravelled yarn pulled through each stitch. I seem to remember this was the fankle I got into when I tried this before. The unravel must be from the cast - ON edge which is the reason I asked because unravelling from the top is never a problem (everyone who makes a mistake has had to do the frogging!). If you have any further advice I’m all ears - haven’t touched the scissors yet
I think she may have meant picking out each stitch of the cast on. With ribbing you can sort of unravel backwards, but at the edges you need to pull the yarn out through the sts.
Thanks sue, yes, I think that was the messy part I was remembering - if its a lot of rows to come out you have to keep pulling the yarn thru the stitches at the edges and it can be quite tangly and laborious. However, it’s less hassle than undoing the whole sleeve so I’m going to go with it. I will still cut off the ribbing as you suggested -it’s not necessary to the sweater and I have lots of yarn left to finish it off with ribbing if I decide I do want it after all. Do find that you are always altering patterns? I find it a real pain that I am not a “model” size and always have to add width to the armholes and shorten the sleeve lengths. I wish I was more able with my arithmetic, but knitting is forcing me to take up my numbers phobia, face the challenge and work it out. I’m sure it must be good for me! Thanks again for the help here to keep the pins whizzing!
I don’t go much by patterns anymore, just use them as a basis for shaping. I do top down raglans because they’re seamless, you can try on as you go and adjust the size, knit sleeves and body to the correct length. You don’t really need a pattern for them, just CO for the neck and have a general idea how many sts to allot for sleeves, back and front. Top down yokes are a little trickier and I haven’t quite figured out where to put the incs and make adjustments for them.
You are well beyond me in skill I think, but you’ve reminded me of the top down method and I must give it a go sometime. I probably have a couple of hundred traditional patterns gleened from charity shops etc - they are all adaptable to today’s styles and at 10p a pop hard to say no to. But a good top down pattern for real money is something I should invest in. Who knows, I may never look back.
But a good top down pattern for real money is something I should invest in.
You don’t need to, there’s a few online where you plug in your gauge and finished measurements and it gives you a pattern:
http://www.woolworks.org/patterns/raglan.html
http://www.knittingfool.com/pages/topdown.guest.cfm (this site has a couple for drop sleeve and set in sleeve though they’re not seamless)
http://www.knitlist.com/99gift/top-down-percentage-sweater.htm for a yoke sweater.
And the $5 in paris pattern, which is a simple raglan in stripes, but can be knit in a solid, tweed or heather without changing yarns.
This is fun, I get to press “thanks” again!
I’m going to bookmark these pages - I do like a custom fit that I can put my own guage into instead of spending ages trying to match a pattern’s guage. Thanks so much for these freebies - can you tell I’m a scot - just love a bargain (the free kind!)
Will definitely make use of these - I’ve gained so much through this question, and as always it’s a treat to be here.
thanks folks!
Will this work for half fisherman’s rib? Or will my knitting pattern be upside down?
If the cuff is in Fisherman’s rib, it likely wouldn’t work.
There are other possibilities for changing the length of a sweater or sleeve if you want to give more detail about your issue I’m sure someone could advise what you could do.
For instance it’s possible to cut off a section from the cuff end of a bottom up sleeve to make it shorter, then to either
- knit down from there in a different stitch pattern (eg ribbed cuff instead of fisherman’s rib) so that the change in direction is not noticable
Or - to re knit a new cuff bottom up and graft it to the cut row so that the stitch pattern is all in the same direction.
I’m not experienced enough to know if half fisherman’s rib is easily grafted but others will know if this sounds like what you want to do. If it’s not possible then a change in stitch pattern for a section could disguise the sweater surgery. There will be options.
Thank you! The cuff is normal 1x1 ribbing and the rest of the sleeve is half fisherman’s stitch. The second option sounds worthy of a try but does anyone know if you can graft to that stitch pattern?
I just did half fisherman’s rib for the first time recently so I don’t know much about it, but if you are working it with a k1 p1 on the wrong side (I am) then there is a row of relatively plain stitch which you could graft to, or work down from.
When the change comes at the join between sleeve (half fishermen’s) and cuff (rib) there are more options and less likely to see the change made because it is already a transition row.
I’m sure @salmonmac will be able to help with more detail regarding grafting options.
Brilliant thanks
No problem. I’m sure salmonmac will be able to help, but if you’re itching to get on with it then you could try a swatch in the half fisherman’s. Then cut it. Knit up another swatch in 1 x 1 rib, then graft to the 1x1 rib row of the half fisherman’s.
If you can’t cut or graft without some help you could prepare the swatches in readiness. Personally I wouldn’t cut a sweater without a practise run on a swatch first anyway. I did a few practises before I took scissors to my sweater. I prefer to cut a row or even 2 longer than needed and undo each individual stitch to get to the right row, possibly over cautious. The tail you have to pull through gets longer and longer this way so every so often cut it a bit shorter to reduce frustrating tangles.
Sorry I can only half help.
I agree with Creations. The cut and then join to knit plain ribbing will be the best way to conceal the change in knitting direction. Here’s a tutorial that may help.
I’ve done this before and it works very nicely.
You want to be sure to leave a tail in the half fisherman’s rib to weave in afterwards.
Thank you all for your help, I’ll be sure to check this out once I’ve finished painting the kitchen! 