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Why do I like to knit sweaters so much, I mean there are plenty of other things I could be knitting. I could be just having hats and socks fall off my needles, have a new scarf to wear every two to four weeks or so, or even a full afghan to keep me warm in the morning. No for some reason I am on a huge sweater kick right now and really it’s just a single sweater. I mean I am planning on knitting some other sweaters right after this one, in a bit of a thicker yarn like worsted at least. But still I want to make all kinds of sweaters and you know what one of, if not my least part of making a sweater is, sleeves. That’s right sleeves are one of the things I don’t like doing, not that they’re difficult to make. Sleeves are usually really easy to make, generally with a small amount of patterning or maybe plain. When they do have a lot of patterning, they don’t have as many stitches as the body so they can go quicker. That’s not my problem with them, I think my problem with them stems from a few things.
- You need two of them, which means doing the same thing more then once. Its kind of like second sock syndrome, which I don’t usually have, but sometimes you just don’t want to make the second sleeve. Even though you know all you have to do is sit there for a few days and get a sleeve done, you just don’t want to do it. Eventually you might make the second sleeve and get that sweater completed. But maybe it will sit there for years without it’s second sleeve. Or maybe you’ll just wear it as a fashion statement, that you can’t be bothered to have both arms warm at the same time.
- They’re not very interesting to me. I mean right now especially they’re just plain stockinette, which is nice when brain power is limited. Sometimes that is nice when you want to watch a movie or read a book at the same time (if you’re crazy like I am and can do that). Otherwise they’re just these little, long bits of knitting that are not very interesting.
- They can defiantly seem like a black hole. You get past the increases and your pattern tells you to knit until a certain length to the underarm, or whatever will fit you/the recipient. Sometimes you keep knitting and knitting, seeing your yarn supply attached get smaller and smaller. But when you got to measure you haven’t gained length since the last time a few hours ago. You then have to curse and wonder how are you going to escape this blackhole.
- After they’re done, you are not really done. If you knit your sleeves flat, they need to be seamed and sometimes they need to be sewn into the body. I can’t count how many times I have ripped out a sleeve that I just sewed in because it looked like my arm went a strange direction. I don’t mind sewing things together, like body pieces or even the sleeves sometimes. Those seams are easy, but a snapped cap is not easy sometimes to sew in.
Does this mean I am not going to finish these sleeves as fast as possible? No it just means I am not going to enjoy making them right now. I want to wear this sweater already and get something else on the needles.