How to decrease neatly to form the shaping of shoulder seams on knitted sleeves

When knitting a sweater with sleeves, once you have the length of sleeves required you have to taper in the top for the shoulder. Usually the pattern tells you at some point to knit two together at the very beginning of the row and then knit two together at the very end of the row. I do not particularly like this method as I find the edges can become "sloppy"

Step 1: Forming a neater shoulder edge altogether

Instead of knitting two together immediately, I like to slip the first stitch, as if to knit, and then knit two together through the back of the loops. When I get to the last three stitches, I knit two together and then knit into the back of the loop of the last stitch. For all purl rows slip first stitch as to KNIT and then continue in purl.

By using this method you are eliminating the saggy baggy ends that can sometime occur. This method would be especially useful for the inexperienced knitter, where the tension is quite often a bit iffy because of inexperience.

Comments

[adlib723]

This sounds like a great method. Can't wait to try it!

[DELETED_coco_baby]

(removed by author or community request)

[stinkymum]

I hate knitting sleeves, because I know that when I have finished one sleeve I have to knit another one exactly the same. This is a trick my mother taught me. Knit both sleeves at once. You cast on separately with two separate balls of yarn, i.e. say cast of 50 stitches for the first sleeve with one ball of yarn and then on the same needle cast on the 50 stitches for the second sleeve. You are knitting them individually but at the same time. That way you know that you have knitted exactly the same number of rows for the rib and have started decreasing or increasing, etc. on exactly the same row.

[reB57]

I was thinking of doing this on the next sweater I am doing, but didn't know if it would work. Thanks for letting me know it will, since the pattern for this sweater is a bit tricky.

[reB57]

Thanks this is such a neat way of making a sleeve look neat.