Today you will be knitting your first sleeve but you’ll need to a little bit of math before getting started.

Choose one of the sleeve sections that we put onto a scrap piece of yarn or stitch holder and slip all of the stitches evenly onto your DPNs.

Click to Download the Sleeve Shaping Worksheet

Sleeve Math

For a nicely fitting tapered sleeve we will need to figure out the rate at which to decrease stitches. Keep in mind that generally sleeves do not fit tight to the skin so adding about 1″ of ease would be prudent. The way you accomplish this is to simply add 1″ to your wrist measurements before entering them into the following equations.

1. Count the sleeve stitches that are now on your DPNs _______sts

2. _______wrist measurement x _______stitch gauge = _______desired number of stitches at wrist

3. Sleeve stitches on your needles at shoulder (see your answer for #1)_______ – Desired number of stitches at wrist (see your answer for #2) = Stitches to decrease before cuff _______

4. (_______ sleeve length – _______ desired cuff width) x _______Row gauge = _______Rows between underarm and cuff

5._______rows between shoulder and wrist (see your answer for #4) ÷ (_______stitches to decrease before cuff ÷ 2) = _______How often to decrease

Now you can use the information you’ve just worked out to start the sleeve from where you’ve picked up the stitches at the shoulder.

Continue onto Day 20: Part 2 to determine how far you’ll need to knit today.