Sweater Sleeves & Picking Up Stitches

[yarnrainbow]

I am looking at a pattern to see if I want to make the sweater and I have a question. This is a one-piece raglan cardigan and you place sleeve stitches on waste yarn before finishing the body. Later you place the sleeve stitches back on your needles and pick up additional stitches to finish the sleeves. When you are placing the stitches on the waste yarn, for each sleeve you place 37 stitches on waste yarn and then cast-on 3 stitches before continuing the body. When you get to the point where you work the sleeves, the pattern says to place the 37 stitches back on your needles and then pick up 5 stitches. My question is about picking up the stitches...how do I pick up 5 stitches where there are only the three stitches you cast on when you laid the sleeve stitches off? I mean, I can probably finagle 5 stitches but is there a "proper" way to do this that will ensure there are no holes, misalignment of rows at the juncture of the body and sleeve, or other disasters? I've looked at videos about picking up stitches but they don't seem to address this issue. Any help appreciated.

[GrumpyGramma]

Does the pattern specify a cast on method? I've seen (and might find again) instructions for using the backward loop cast on and casting on fewer than you'll need to make it tighter and neater.

[suzeeq]

My question is about picking up the stitches...how do I pick up 5 stitches where there are only the three stitches you cast on when you laid the sleeve stitches off? I mean, I can probably finagle 5 stitches but is there a "proper" way to do this that will ensure there are no holes, misalignment of rows at the juncture of the body and sleeve, or other disasters?

This is a way to help make sure there's no gaps or holes. I do it routinely, picking up an extra stitch both before and after the cast on stitches, then decreasing them on the next round. I do them like M1s in the gap between the body stitch and the cast on.

[salmonmac]

Knitter292009 gave the link to this video which shows how to pick up stitches to knit a thumb. It's very similar to the shoulder/sleeve pick up for raglan sweaters and avoids the hole at either side.
http://knitpurlhunter.com/blog/?p=696
Thanks Knitter292009!