Join Sleeve to Armhole
Bring out the required number of needles. In our example, the sleeve has been knitted, from bottom to top, and removed on waste yarn. Be sure the same number of needles for the top of the sleeve are in work position. Hang the armhole edge with the public side facing you, wrong side toward the machine, as follows:
Hang the armhole points on front and back (the rows with yarn markers in them) on the end needles on both sides. Pick up 1 stitch on each side of the shoulder seam, and hang on needles 1 left and 1 right of center 0. Instructions for evenly hanging a side edge, which is what the armhole is, are found here
Bring the working needles forward so that the fabric slides back behind the latches. With the wrong side of the sleeve facing you, right side toward the machine, fold back the waste yarn and pick up the main color loops along the top of the sleeve; hang each one into the corresponding needle along the sleeve edge.
Sleeve stitches should be in the needle hooks. The illustration shows that the waste yarn has been removed after the sleeve stitches are picked up. It is really safer to leave it in place until after the seam is completed. If you should accidentally drop a stitch, it won’t run.
Push the needles back, taking the sleeve stitches through the armhole edge. Just one stitch now remains in each hook.
Backstitch across to bind off the live stitches. You may use another bind off method, such as the stitch-through-stitch technique, but take care to have the final knit row very loose. A tight bind off makes the seam pucker, and is uncomfortable to wear.
This tutorial was copyrighted and uploaded to the original Clearwater Knits website in 1997. It was updated in 2017.