I just crocheted a great hoodie but the sleeves are about 7" too long. It is done in Cobble Stitch with thick yarn (Lion Brand WoolEase). Is it possible to pick out the stitches -- I'd be unraveling it from the beginning chain up to the correct length. Or do I have to unsew the raglan sleeves and recrochet both sleeves? What happens if I cut a thread at the right length and pull out the stitches -- can I remake a foundation chain? I have a feeling your going to tell me I'm lazy and should unravel from the top and start over...
http://crochetme.com/tips/fix-too-long-sleeve-without-frogging
mad for crochet!
Umm, sarahcrit, that is a good method for knit sleeves, but crochet doesn't unravel like that. Even knitting, if worked flat, doesn't easily unravel from the bottom. Something about the edge stitches makes you have to pull all the unraveled yarn thru the edge stitch at the end of each row. Gets old very fast.
Dotty, do the arms taper from armpit to wrist or are they straight? If straight, I'd unsew and frog them down to the point where you would start a new sleeve cap shape. But that's so easy, relatively, you would have done it and not asked.
To chop the sleeve off at the cuff, I think I'd try your idea of cutting a thread at the right length and pull out the stitches. Except it's not "pull out", it's pick out, bit by bit. First you'll need to run a keeper thread, something thin, smooth, and strong like crochet thread or unwaxed dental floss, thru the base of each stitch on the first row you wish to keep. Be careful to insert the needle the same way on each stitch.
Once your ripping out is complete, I think you can slip stitch the bottom of the new first row together and remove the keeper thread.
Make a small swatch to practice on before you tackle your garment.
I've tried unraveling from the bottom and know it's a stink to do, but I don't remember if I was able to salvage things or just ended up frogging, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
Lots of luck!
sorry about the driveby posting! I didn't check out that tip before suggesting it. From the title it seemed relevant. I have tried unravelling things from the first stitch and it sucks!Have you considered making a nice folded cuff with the extra length? Or perhaps you can remove the sleeve from the arm hole and unravel the length from there, that way you don't have to redo the whole sleeve. oops, I see Pauline has already suggested that.
Thank you for the speedy reply -- it took me a while to get the courage to try cutting and unraveling but here I am reporting the results. I cut the yarn at the end of the row, laid the sleeve flat and slowly picked out the stitches, threading a thin crochet thread thru the loops as suggested. Since it's cobble stitch (alternate single & double crochet) there were some confusing extra loops but I had a good record of what the stitch count should be. Then I slipped the loops thru each other (not sure what it's called but it's like binding off in knitting). It works! I think I'll do an edge stitch once everything is sewed together.
So, my report, for posterity, is that yes it can be done. In this case it was worth it since the raglan sleeve shaping had some difficult stitch counting so I was reluctant to redo that. For a while tho I was hearing my grandmother's voice as she looked in dismay at our sewing mistakes: "Well, I guess we'll just have to rip this out..." I come from a family of perfectionists.
Wow, you really did it! It worked, congratulations!
I was thinking that picking out the stitches might make you wish you had just frogged the whole thing instead, but didn't write it. And I would have been wrong anyway if I had.
When I said to slip stitch, I meant with a fresh piece of yarn. Your method is different. Good idea.
Thanks for letting us know how it turned out. Again, congratulations.
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