Geek-A-Long
2021 Geek-A-Long Sweater: Clue 17
Oct
Get ready party people, because it’s time to join the sleeves! This is probably the most difficult part of the sweater (really of any bottom up sweater) just by virtue of dealing with SO. MANY. STITCHES.
Let’s get down to business*. All of the following text is also in this week’s clue download. I am begging you to read this at least twice before you start your sleeve join. There’s no avoiding the abundance of stitches, or that the first few rows after a sleeve join are hard to work because the stitches won’t have as much movement around the curve of the sleeves as on other parts, but if you take your time and count carefully, you can have a (relatively) stress free sleeve joining experience.
The sleeves will be joined by first placing body sts that will make up the underarms on waste yarn holders (these underarm sts will ultimately be grafted to the underarm sts from the sleeves that are currently on waste yarn holders), then knitting the sleeve sts directly to the body.
Please read through the instructions for this section completely before you begin working and take your time as you join the sleeves. It is very important that the sleeve join follows the directions precisely to ensure that you have the correct number of sts for grafting the underarms closed as well as the correct number of sts going into the yoke.
I strongly recommend having some extra needles on hand as you work through the sleeve join row. You will want a pair of circular needles that is a size or 2 smaller than your working needles to transfer the sleeves to before you knit across them to join them to the body. It’s fine to use needles that are the same size as your working needles if that’s what you have available, but it’s easier to slide the sts around if you transfer the sleeve sts to needles that are a little smaller.
As you work the first few rows after the join, the stitches at the midpoint of the sleeve can be difficult to work as you knit “around the corner” of each sleeve. I recommend either splitting the yoke sts onto 2 circular needles so that there is more slack on the cable of the circular needles, or a single pair of needles with an extremely long cable (60” or more) with the sleeves worked as if in magic loop. I prefer the latter. As I come up on each sleeve I pull a loop of the cable out between 2 sts at the center of the sleeve so that as I knit that sleeve I can knit around the curve of the sleeve in the same manner I would as if knitting socks in magic loop.
Released so far:
- 2021 Geek-A-Long Sweater: On Board Project Sheet.
- 2021 Geek-A-Long Sweater FAQ
- Practice Swatch 1: Electric Company
- Practice Swatch 2: Railroad
- Clue 1
- Clue 2
- Clue 3
- Clue 4
- Clue 5
- Clue 6
- Clue 7
- Clue 8
- Clue 9
- Clue 10
- Clue 11
- Clue 12
- Clue 13
- Clue 14
- Clue 15
- Clue 16
View On Board: Clue 17 by clicking this link or download it by clicking the button below. When you download the pattern from our website instead of through Ravelry, you will NOT receive automatic updates. You will have to come here and download the next clue every time. Please download it via Raverly if you are able, so you have immediate access to the clues as they are released and any errata that may appear.
~Megan-Anne
*To defeat the Huns.
The “let’s get down to business” asterisk payoff was so worth it. (Especially since I started singing the song as soon as I read that first part of the line, and then spent the rest of the post trying to figure out if you had the same earworm I did, or if you were making a different reference.)