Shortening a Sleeve

by Jean
(Oak Creek WI)

How do I shorten sleeves without undoing the whole sweater?

YOUR ANSWER

Hi Jean,

The only way I know of is to pick up the stitches at the desired length, and re-knit the bands (knitting down). It is not easy, the few times I have done it I found it a very frustrating exercise, but it can be done.

What I usually do is to undo the side seam to a few inches above your desired length less the depth of the bands. I use a small knitting needle and thread it through each stitch on the row where I want to start knitting. Then you use a pair of small scissors to snip the yarn in the row above the needle at intervals across the row. You then unravel the ends to remove (what was) the bottom of the sleeve.

Then you just join your yarn to the sleeve and knit a new band on the stitches you have picked up on the needle. Don't forget to change back to larger (matching needles) while you are knitting!

Once you have cast off the band you sew up the seam again and you are done.