Gauge is good, I LOVE the pattern, but soooo big....why????

knitqueen · 02-25-2006, 04:54 PM

I am just starting on this pattern:
http://cascadeyarns.com/patternsFree...yCrossover.pdf

I just love it, the lace pattern is so great, but something seems really strange about the pattern.

I'm doing the sleeves first. I did the lace pattern section and picked up stitches to start the sleeve and it just seems SO unbelievably big for a sleeve, especially by how the picture of the model looks, they look normal!

The sleeves start at 67 stitches and increases to 97 stitches. So at 97 stitches, and 22st/4", that means that the sleeve is supposed to be 17.6" around???

That just doesn't seem right, and it doesn't LOOK right either.

What do you think??

I'm considering changing it up a bit, skipping the armhole shaping, just doing it straight up the sides and picking up stitches around and just doing a drop sleeve instead. I dunno :thinking:

Ingrid · 02-25-2006, 10:31 PM

I just measured a sleeve on a regular blouse that happened to be hanging nearby and that sleeve measured 8 inches from top to bottom, so 17 l/2 wouldn't be all that huge for sweater. You could certainly make it smaller if you wanted, though, either by doing fewer increases or knitting it down.

knitqueen · 02-25-2006, 10:40 PM

When you say it measure 8" from top to bottom, you mean from the the top of the sleeve down to the wrist, or 8" around? It's the around part that I find so big, not the length of the sleeve.

aylaanne · 02-25-2006, 10:57 PM

I think she meant 8" from the shoulder to the armpit along the shoulder seam. 17.5" doesn't seem that big for such a baggy sleeve. that's only 8.25" from shoulder to armpit.

knitqueen · 02-25-2006, 11:02 PM

I don't mean from shoulder to armpit, I mean the the measurement around the arm portion of the sleeve. And to me, the picture in the pattern doesn't look all that baggy. I just measured my upper arm and it's only about 11" around, so that seems like a lot of ease to me.

If I did less increases, wouldn't the sleeve end up not fitting the armhole?

Ingrid · 02-25-2006, 11:07 PM

Yes, I meant 8 inches from shoulder to armpit, so that would be 16 inches around. Measure a sweater you like the fit of and see what that is.

The armhole of the pattern measures 8 1/2 inches for one side, so the opening would be 17 inches plus whatever stitches are bound off for the underarm. You could make the sleeves to the size you want and then make the armholes smaller. I'd measure a favorite sweater first, though.

When I make sleeves, I'm always amazed how big they look on top.

knitqueen · 02-25-2006, 11:14 PM

Well, I think what I'm going to do is leave the sleeve on hold that I have started, and work on the body part first. Then I'll see what the size of the armhole looks like, I'll be able to try it on, and go from there.

I think afterall that I don't really like that wide lace panel around the cuffs of both sleeves AND down the front and left front edges anyways, it seems a bit too much of a good thing, so I think I'll change up the sleeve a bit regardless to make it a bit more plain.

Thanks for the help, I feel so clueless right now! :rollseyes:

By the way, I see what you mean now about measure from shoulder to armpit, I guess that is what I meant even though I didn't know it!