One very common fit adjustment that needs to be made in knit sweaters is to the area around your bicep. This tutorial is specifically for altering the upper arm circumference in a knit sweater with drop sleeves. Details for doing it with on sleeve types will be coming in future posts.
What is a drop sleeve? Drop sleeves have no or minimal armhole shaping so that the shoulder of the sweater hangs down over the top of the arm. If you’re knitting from the bottom up you’re essentially knitting two rectangles, joining them at the sides, and adding sleeves. For example, Knife Grinder’s Daughter, Worsted Knife Grinder’s Daughter, Down Home, and Hamiltonian all have drop sleeves. If you are trying to adjust the bicep on one of those you are in the right place.
Adjusting the upper arm circumference on a drop sleeve sweater is a relatively simple thing to do. First measure the circumference of your bicep so you know how big you need the sleeve to be. Then add in ease. I usually add 1.5-2” (4-5cm) positive ease to the bicep area in my close fitting sweaters. This is by no means a hard and fast rule, just a matter of personal preference. If the sleeve on your sweater is meant to be looser fitting to begin with definitely add more.
For example, let’s say you have a 14” (36 cm) bicep and you want to add 2” (5 cm) of ease to it. Your sweater’s new upper arm circumference would be 16” (41 cm).
Drop sleeves begin partially down the arm.
See how the body of the sweater extends past the shoulder and down the arm? It means that your armhole depth and upper arm circumference are closely linked. In order to (easily) change the circumference of the upper arm you must also change the depth of your armhole.
It might sound complicated but the math is simple. Your desired upper arm circumference is twice your new armhole depth. In our example, with a desired 16” (41 cm) upper arm circumference, the new armhole depth will be 8” (20.5 cm).
Add or subtract the difference between your desired armhole depth and what the pattern calls for above the armhole division and below any neck shaping that might happen in the pattern.
Unless you also want to change the overall length of the sweater, you will need to account for the different armhole depth in the body of the sweater below the underarms too. If your new armhole is shorter than what is called for in the pattern, add the difference in length to the body of the sweater below the armhole division. If the new armhole depth is longer than what is called for, subtract the difference from the body.
Figuring out how many stitches to pick up for you your sleeve is as simple as multiplying your new upper arm circumference by your row gauge and rounding to the nearest whole number. If your sleeve is patterned like in Down Home, don’t forget to tweak the final number of stitches so that it equals a multiple of however many stitches are used in the stitch pattern on your sleeve.
There you have it—an easy bicep adjustment for drop sleeves.