No magic

Before I knit this proto sleeve, I worried that sleeves without a pattern might be unattainable magic. It has stopped me once before (the mohair sweater I am working on - currently on recess, in closet, waiting for sleeves).

But no. No magic. Just a little common sense, and knitting. There is a point where you have to trust Barbara Walker, you have to set aside your questions and just do exactly what she says. I did and see what happened?

Its a sleeve! As usual, I will pull this out and reknit.

Now that I understand what to do, I know I can do better. To start, I think, I'll block the body. Then, I want to pick up stitches just a little differently to make a crisper 'seam' an I'm going to re-work my numbers. If I kept going I'd have too much ease in the sleeve for the look I want. It would be exactly right for a big loose over sweater, but not for the closer fitting dressier look I am after.

I have discovered something else about knitting sleeves. When you knit a sleeve from the bottom up, the short rows at the top of the sleeve are a kind of relief.

When you knit from the top down, the short rows feel fiddly, irritating. I'm going to work really hard to get past the fiddly bits.