I had plenty of knitting time last week, so once I confirmed my pattern for the cuff, I was able to whip out that first sleeve in short order.
Of course, this is, in part, because the only thing I had to pay
attention to once I got past that cuff was when to start increasing for
the upper arm, and how frequently to put in the increases.
Once I finished this much, loving the fabric, I thought it might be time to check on things like gauge.
So... I whipped out the ol' measuring tape, and discovered that I had been knitting
about 20 stitches for every 4 inches, and getting
about 31 rows (okay, rounds, be picky) for every four inches.
My patterned cuff was 10" around,
and the sleeve right above it dropped right down to 9 3/4" because there were no purl bumps to widen things up.
The sleeve was 18" long.
Then, I gathered my sleeve up, and drenched it. I admit, it wasn't a full on soaking (I was too impatient and lazy to wait the good 20 minutes one ought to wait). It wasn't a full on washing either. But the sleeve was pretty thoroughly wet. I squeezed the water out, and laid it back across the counter.
I still saw 20 stitches in 4 inches of stockinette knitting. But now...
I saw 29 rows for every 4 inches.
My cuff had grown to 10 3/4", and my sleeve was now 9 1/" inches around.
But the whole sleeve had grown to 21".
I'll need to make some changes. That sleeve is Too Long now.
See. Gauge matters! And since I'm planning to do some side to side stuff on this one, ROW gauge matters.
There will be frogging. And adjusting.
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