About

Cost: $ $ $ $ $

Difficulty: • • • • •

Time: 3h00

Knit new and improved cuffs onto less-than-perfect old sweater sleeves!
Pick out a yarn which will coordinate well with your reclaimed sweater, and use it to knit on new cuffs, as long as you like. If you are a beginner knitter, it's recommended that you choose a new yarn that is the same weight as the original sweater yarn, so that you don't need to adjust the stitch count.

The example shown was knit with a yarn around aran weight, while the original sweater yarn was around sport weight - to make the fabrics match up, stitches were decreased by half (on the row where the tutorial says to decrease if needed, [k2tog] was worked all the way around all stitches). If you choose to use a yarn the same weight as the original sweater, there's no need to decrease at all. If the yarn is only slightly heavier, decrease by a little... you'll have to decide for yourself how the gauges match up between the original sweater and your new yarn, and choose how much to decrease.

If your yarn is a lighter weight than the original sweater, than add stitches with increases when you first knit into the sweater stitches, instead of knitting all stitches for one round, so that the join doesn't pull in.

Posted by leethal from Portland, Oregon, United States • Published 3rd February 2014 • See leethal's 6 projects »

Print • Embed

VillainousNinja favorited Reconstructed Sweater Cuffs 28 Jun 01:08
jtrejoargueta favorited Reconstructed Sweater Cuffs 28 Oct 21:37
Pimke added Reconstructed Sweater Cuffs to Upcycling 26 Jan 12:56
Bencaz favorited Reconstructed Sweater Cuffs 21 Jul 19:02
Co-Goth Frack commented on Reconstructed Sweater Cuffs 18 Feb 05:57
Co-Goth Frack favorited Reconstructed Sweater Cuffs 18 Feb 05:57
olivoyle favorited Reconstructed Sweater Cuffs 10 Feb 17:51
Biscuit crumb favorited Reconstructed Sweater Cuffs 04 Feb 16:09
zoë added Reconstructed Sweater Cuffs to good to know 04 Feb 04:01
Ravens Trove favorited Reconstructed Sweater Cuffs 03 Feb 18:22

Step 1
Hopefully your sweater sleeve was knit from the top down, as most store-bought sweaters are. If this is the case, you can cut apart the seaming thread and unravel the original cuff down to where you want to re-knit your new cuff.
Step 2
This sample cuff was actually knit from the cuff up, so it couldn't be unraveled and had to be cut off instead. Regardless of how your sweater was made, you may still choose to chop off the cuff with scissors, above where you want to start your cuff, and then unravel the last few rows down.
Step 3
To be sure you get all the stitches onto your needle, and don't accidentally lose stitches or cut them, you may pick up the stitches before taking apart the last couple rows, as you see here, by sticking your needle through the stitches across the bottom cuff row. Use a needle sized to match the original sweater yarn (even if you'll be using a different weight to knit your new cuffs).
Step 4
Once your stitches are safely on your needle, either unravel or snip off the remaining extra rows.
Step 5
Now knit a round around these live stitches, with your new yarn, onto needles sized for that yarn (if it's a different weight). Then, if needed, work one round with decreases to make the stitch count in your new yarn match up with the sleeve (this is if your yarn is a heavier weight than the sweater yarn).
Step 6
Knit/purl 1x1 rib around all stitches until the cuff is as long as you like, then bind off.
Step 7
Repeat all steps for the second side, and you have awesome new cuffs!