The Three-Sleeved Sweater

Hubris bites me in the butt

Jun 05, 2025

The downside of having been a knitter for nearly 50 years is overconfidence.
I learned that lesson (again) this past week.

I’ve been making good progress on the white summer cardigan I wrote about last month. I finished the body and added the front band. The fit was spot on. The end was in sight. I just had to knit the sleeves. No problem.

Late one evening, I did some casual calculations on a piece of scrap paper and cast on. Three days later, I had a finished sleeve. I sewed it into the armhole (this is a set-in sleeve design). I tried on my single-sleeved sweater and looked in the mirror.

The sleeve was huge—at least two or three inches bigger around than it should have been. The length was fine, and the sleeve cap fit into the armhole, but the sleeve billowed in a most unattractive way.

I confess, I spent several minutes trying to convince myself it was OK. Here are the arguments I tried:

It will look better after blocking (Since when does blocking selectively shrink only part of a sweater?)
It’s just for me, and no one will notice the problem if I don’t point it out (Since when do I deserve less than my own best work?)
It’s a design feature (a feature that will make me uncomfortable and self-conscious and will therefore doom this sweater to the darkest corner of my closet, never to be worn.)

There is no photograph to document this minor disaster. Why would I want to preserve the evidence of my mistake? The following day, I unpicked the seam and unraveled the sleeve.

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What Went Wrong?

I screwed up the math. Why did I think working out the numbers on a piece of scrap paper shortly before bed was a good idea? My analytic brain had already shut down for the night. I compounded the original error by failing to take a critical look at the sleeve in progress. Then I eyeballed the sleeve cap shaping, which disguised the fact that the sleeve was simply too big.

The Way Forward

I did a fresh set of calculations early in the day when my brain was ready to work. I double checked the numbers before I cast on again. Yes, I will end up having knit three sleeves for this sweater: one comically oversized and two the correct size. But I’ll end up with a cardigan I feel good about wearing.

I’ve also been reminded that no amount of experience excuses me from doing the work with care. And that’s a lesson this old knitter is happy to take on board.

Next Up in the Knitting Queue

Once the summer cardigan is finished (I’m guessing a week to 10 days), I’m planning to do something I very rarely do. I’m going to knit a sweater designed by someone else.

The latest Field Guide from my friends at Modern Daily Knitting is full of beautiful mosaic knitting patterns created by the talented Amy Christoffers. One of Amy’s designs, the Waffle Pullover, immediately caught my eye.

I love the fabric that is simple yet full of character. I love the elevated casual vibe. I want that sweater. And I have the “perfect” yarn in my stash. I have a bunch of Purl Soho’s Good Wool in classic neutral colors: undyed Winter Grass and a blue so-dark-it-might-be-black called Well Water.

Why did I put quotation marks around perfect? Because Amy’s pattern was designed with Modern Daily Knitting Jane, a DK weight yarn, knit at a gauge of 21 stitches and 40 rows = 4 inches. Good Wool is sport weight. My swatch (which is lovely, light, and lofty) measures 26 stitches and 50 rows = 4 inches. I need to rework all the numbers in the pattern to suit my gauge.

Fortunately, the pattern includes a detailed schematic. I’ll just need to translate the measurements for my size into stitch and row counts, then calculate shaping intervals to get me smoothly from one point to the next.

I’m also planning to make my sweater longer than the one shown in the photo. I know cropped silhouettes are popular right now, but they are not comfortable for me. I need to be able to reach for a package on a high shelf at the grocery store without treating passersby to my yummy muffin top. So, I’ll be knitting the body about 3 inches longer.

I’ll keep you posted.

I am continually amazed at the parts of American history which were left out of my public-school curriculum. One of those gaps was filled when I listened to A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan.

This book was recommended to me by a reader. I’m sorry—I don’t remember who, and I can’t find the comment. If it was you, please let me know in the comments. (I need to do a better job of tracking how books find their way to my queue.)

This work reads more like a thriller than a history. It tells the story of the rise and fall of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana in the 1920s. Well-paced, meticulously researched, and often shocking, A Fever in the Heartland details how one brutal and corrupt conman made himself fabulously wealthy convincing 1 out of every 3 native-born white men in the state to become Klan members.

The book has a disturbing resonance in our current political climate. Ordinary good citizens are convinced of a mostly imaginary threat from “outsiders” and led to believe that violent collective action is the only way to defend their families from that threat. All the while, a small group of power-hungry people (all white, almost all men) accumulate wealth and indulge their most base desires with impunity.

Obviously, A Fever in the Heartland is not a light, feel-good read. But in the words of George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” As a society, we are paying a price for turning our back on history. None of this is truly unprecedented.

Things that caught my eye…

If you’re looking for a feel-good evening, I heartily recommend you watch Kiss Me, Kate, part of the Great Performances series on PBS. This 1948 musical is a Cole Porter mash-up of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. The film is of the 2024 revival at the Barbican in London. It is all singing, all dancing, and full of laughs. The performances are exceptional. You can stream this show via PBS Passport with a membership in your local PBS station.
Here’s a great story about the challenges of trying to revive the American textile manufacturing industry.
The New York Times is offering a 5-day exercise for your creative muscles. Check it out here.
My mother turned 93 on Memorial Day! She’s a loyal reader, so you can wish Olga many happy returns in the comments if you’re so inclined.

Olga, my mom, looking great at 93. She really knows how to rock a hat.

As always, I’m grateful for your time and attention. I appreciate your inviting me to share a bit of my world with you. Continue the conversation: What would you have done if you had made my giant sleeve mistake? Made the second sleeve to match and worn it with pride? Abandoned the project in disgust? Buried it among your works-in-progress never to pick it up again? Tell me about it in the comments.