What to do, what to do?

After finishing the Haapsalu shawl, I've been focusing on finishing the Hedera jacket. The sweater has a lot of things going for it--5 color brioche in Cascade 220 that is stunning on the RS and the WS, and... and...

You'd think I could find other things I like about the sweater, but picking it up after such a long time has been challenging.

• My gauge is slightly different than it was when I knit the back.
• After I finished the back & the fronts, I realized that I counted the rows incorrectly for the armhole shaping. Rows are counted differently in brioche. Every other st is worked in a row, then the slipped sts are worked in the return row. That means one "row" equals 2 rows worked. So basically I worked all of the armhole decreases at a faster rate than the pattern specified. I was upset when I realized my mistake, but decided not to do anything about it until I set a sleeve in to see if it was a real issue.

So I worked on the first sleeve and carefully calculated the sleeve cap shaping to make sure I understood what the pattern was calling for, single rows, or brioche rows. After I finished the first sleeve, I basted everything together and discovered my next problem. It had nothing to do with the armhole shaping.


Hedera Jacket
Project details on Ravelry

Get a load of that cuff! It's turned up a full 4 inches and I think it looks sloppy. I should have checked the dimensions of the sleeve before I made it, but if I pick the correct sweater size the sleeves usually fit. If anything they can be too short. Well this is definitely not too short. The schematic showed 4 inches of working even before the sleeve increases, but I assumed (incorrectly) that meant a turned up cuff of 2 inches.

Here's another look at it--


Hedera sleeve cuff

Last night my mind went from one option, to another, to another.

• Rip back to shorten the cuff. That would be about 3 inches short of ripping out the entire sleeve.
• Leave it the way it is and double roll the cuff. Yeah, that wouldn't look sloppy.
• Cut 1-1/2 inches off the cuff and figure out how to and sew a finished edge.

I didn't like any of my options, so I put it in a corner and hoped something good would happen in the morning.

To my surprise, the new day brought a new option and it's a good one. On other sweaters I've made, the sleeve cap shaping started soon after the last sleeve increase. I forgot that this sleeve is different, there are some rows worked even after the sleeve increases and before the cap shaping.


Rows worked even before sleeve cap

The red pin marks the last sleeve increase. I could rip out the sleeve cap and 1-1/2 to 2 inches of the sleeve and then re-knit the sleeve cap. It'll also shift the fattest part of the sleeve up on my arm and I think that will be a good thing.

Wow. I'm so glad I didn't rip the whole sleeve out, because you know that's what was going to happen.