Gleeves

I commute on my bicycle, and when it gets cold outside, the chill always starts in my arms. Enter opera length gleeves. I can often get away with substituting these for a jacket. These look pretty good inside out, too. Well, I've sorta fallen in love with the look of Andean Silk in reverse stockinette.

This is not a beginner pattern. You need to be able to read charts and knit several different kinds of decreases and increases and a thumb gusset.

yarn

Knit Picks Andean Silk in Fedora. It's a worsted weight alpaca/silk/merino blend. It does itch and pill a bit, but it's super warm and stretchy and strong and shows textured stitches beautifully. I used exactly two skeins for the size small opera length gleeves.

needles and gauge

Each gleeve is knit in one piece in the round. I used size 5 circular needles, but you could use DPNs if you wanted. Perfect gauge is not super important because these are so stretchy, but mine came out at about 4.5 st/inch in the stockinette sections. If you're familiar with Magic Loop knitting, consider knitting both gleeves at the same time.

sizing

(approximate circumference of unstretched gleeve just below biceps cuff)
S = 10"
M = 12" (when stitch numbers differ, they are noted in parentheses)

The model has about 2" negative ease. That is to say, I have 12" biceps and I'm wearing size S. The S gleeves are a close fit and go nicely over a close-fit (read: cotton/spandex) tee. I realize not everyone wears stuff as tight as I do, so I thought up directions for a medium size with more stitches in the stockinette panel (the flat part flanking the cable panel). If you need more room and don't want to fuss with the number of stitches, knit these at a looser gauge.

That being said, these should knit up a bit tighter than you want them, because they stretch quite a bit through wear.

abbreviations:

k = knit
p = purl
YO = yarnover
k2tog = insert right needle through first two stitches on left needle and knit together as if they were a single stitch
SSK2tog = slip the first two stitches individually off the left hand needle onto the right hand needle, as if you were knitting them but forgot to pull the working yarn through. Insert the left hand needle into both stitches and knit them together.
K3tog = Insert the right hand needle into the first three stitches on the left needle and knit them together as if they were a single stitch
SSKPSSO: As for SSK2tog, except instead of knitting them together, knit the next stitch on the left needle, then pass the two slipped stitches over it.

stitch pattern charts:

The pattern stitch is a 16-stitch wide, 6-row faux cable with eyelets, posted here:
.
There are four charted patterns, an upper sleeve and a lower sleeve for each of the right and left gleeves.

pattern

• cuff (left and right sleeves)
  
  Cast on 44 (54) stitches. Place a stitch marker at the beginning of the round. Knit k1,p1 rib until cuff measures 2 inches.
  
  
• right upper sleeve
  
  Row 1: k 25 (32), knit pattern row 1, k 3 (6)
  Row 2: k 25 (32), knit pattern row 2, k 3 (6)
  Repeat for remaining rows of cable pattern (6 rows total)
  Repeat the pattern 8-10 times for opera length gloves. You can adjust the number of repeats for longer or shorter gleeves. The lower sleeve tapering section is 3-4 inches long; keep that in mind when you're figuring length.
  
  
• left upper sleeve
  
  Row 1: k 3 (6), knit pattern row 1, k 25 (32)
  Row 2: k 3 (6), knit pattern row 2, k 25 (32)
  Proceed as for right upper sleeve.
  
  
• lower sleeves (optional)
  *I have 11" forearms and 7" wrists, so I've designed the gleeves to be the same diameter from bicep to mid-forearm and taper in almost 2" at the wrist by decreasing in both the cable panel and the stockinette panel. The cable decreases are kind of tricky, and if you don't want to mess with them I suggest you substitute 4 additional decreases in the stockinette panel."
  
  Continue as for upper sleeve but switch to lower sleeve pattern chart. When you're done shrinking the cable and the stockinette panel you should be down to 36 stitches per round.
  
  
• right glove
  
  If you aren't shrinking the cable, substitute the original 16-stitch, six-row stitch pattern for the shrunken cable 4-row repeat. Be warned, this will make the glove part baggier.
  
  Row 1: inc 1, k20, knit row 17 of lower right sleeve pattern stitch, k4
  Row 2: k21, knit row 18 of lower right sleeve pattern stitch, k4
  Row 3: inc 1, k1, inc 1, k20, knit row 19 of lower right sleeve pattern stitch, k4
  Row 4: k23, knit row 20 of lower right sleeve pattern, k5
  Row 5: inc 1, k3, inc 1, k20, knit row 17 of lower right sleeve pattern, k4
  
  Continue in this manner, repeating the last four rows of the lower gleeve pattern stitch and increasing by two stitches every other round, till you have added 13 stitches. Place these 13 stitches on a stitch holder or waste yarn; they will become the thumb.
  
  Knit four more rows of the pattern stitch + stockinette panel (you should be back to knitting however many stitches you were knitting in row 1). Switch to k1,p1 rib for 1 inch. Bind off.
  
  
• left glove
  Knit right glove rows in reverse. E.g.:
  Row 1: k4, knit row 17 of lower left sleeve pattern stitch, k20, inc 1
  
  When you have 13 thumb stitches, put them on a stitch holder or a piece of waste yarn and continue as for right glove.
  
  
• thumb (left and right)
  
  Put stitches for one of the thumbs back on needles. Pick up three stitches across the gap between thumb and hand. Knit in k1p1 rib for 1 inch. Bind off.
  
  Holy cow, you're done!