Big sleeves: Frog or keep?

[pk_knits]

I'm on the brink of being done with the Reeds & Grasses kimono jacket. Maybe. There's this little question of the sleeves. Or not-so-little - and that's the problem.

Backstory: The pattern, from Vicki Squares' Knit Kimono collection, calls for bamboo yarn. I made a conscious decision to substitute Blue Moon Fiber Arts' Luscious Single Silk, a

Comments

[txanne]

I'd say frog but don't give up on the gathered look. Bearing in mind that I haven't seen the pattern, I'd count how many decreases I lost in the frogging, then do all of them on one row. Or if that didn't work, half on one row, half the next. Then do the cuff normally.

[pk_knits]

The way the sleeve is constructed, the decreases start about eight inches down from the shoulder edge, and are done every four rows along the edges that become the bottom sleeve to create a curved wedge shape. Then the last row before the cuff is all k2T. But I think it might work to add those extra decreases in the row before the k2T. Hm...

[txanne]

Ah, nifty. Yes, that's definitely what I'd do.

[karenkay]

I would definitely vote for less heavy sleeves. (I noted the fact that the arms were up in all the photos. My former Friday knitting group was very savvy about FO photos; I learned to be suspicious of non-natural photos.)

I think I'd rip back further than the cuff, and just keep the shape, but make it so that you can't shoplift a turkey. But that's a lot of work.

[pk_knits]

Because the fabric is so thick, I don't think I'd want to mess with the essential shape of the sleeve. The gathering is entirely done in the final row before the cuff (see my comment to txanne, above), so all I'd really have to do is rip back to the length I want, knit a row to get in the number of decreases I'd lost by frogging, and then do the K2T gather row and cuff. The question is whether that would look ... balloon-ish, if you know what I mean.

The work doesn't really bother me; I like knitting. (-:

[karenkay]

I agree that reducing the weight of the sleeve while not messing with the shape would be tough. You're probably right that ripping back to the length you want is the smartest move.

[kightp]

Also quickest: I'd only have to reknit two rows and the cuffs (which are a little fiddly because I decided to do them in the body stitch pattern instead of stockinette.)

And hey, if that doesn't work, I can rip 'em again and just go without the gathers for a wide-cuffed look.

I just measured and pinned, and I'm taking it downstairs to rip. I think I can still finish it this weekend. (-:

[submarine_bells]

I'd probably redo the sleeves, myself. I find that sleeves that hang too low past my wrist are a pain and get in the way a lot when I'm trying to do stuff.

[kathrynt]

Frog 'em back, redo the decreases Otherwise you'll be dropping them in the soup all the time.

Mmmm soup.

[grrlpup]

Did you ever play that game where kids wriggle their arms out of their sleeves and then run around trying to whip people with the empty sleeves by rotating their shoulders really fast? (If not, that description probably makes no sense.) This would be the formidable killer sweater for that game!

[kightp]

*laugh* I did. And it would.