I'm working on a very ambitious project: a Philosophers Wool sweater with set-in sleeves. I've done several of these sweaters before but have never tried changing the drop-shoulder style to a set-in-sleeve style. At STITCHES South, Melissa Leapman convinced me that it is indeed possible to do a shaped sleeve cap entirely in the round. (She explains the process in her book, Mastering Color Knitting.) And voila ... here are the sleeves. The shaping is done by binding off a number of stitches at the armhole, casting on a steek over the gap, and then using SSK and K2tog decreases. I knitted the final few rows back-and-forth to shape the very top of the sleeve cap, but otherwise, the entire piece is knitted in the round.
Now, I have to finish the body (the photo at the top shows the progress so far), cut the sleeve and centre steeks, knit the front and neck bands and sew up. I'm hoping that the steeked sleeves won't add too much bulk to the armhole seems, and that I'll have a wearable garment in the end.
