I am done with the left sleeve, up to the raglan shaping. The way the pattern works, you start increasing on the left side of the raglan and create a half circle, which becomes the front. I have been experimenting with the increases. As some of you know, I suffer from PKD: perfectionistic knitting disorder. I’ve got it bad! I have never liked the way that some increases distort the adjacent sts — this happens because the yarn needed to create a new st has to come from somewhere. This is especially true with the “m1” (m1 = make one = lift running thread between 2 sts and knit it with a twist to create a new st). As you pull up the running thread, you pull the adjacent st tighter, making it smaller than it should be. This can be very noticeable. In the Sunrise Circle pattern, there are rows where you make 4 “m1’s” in a row ([k1, m1]x4). Each st would be getting tighter and tighter trying to give up the length needed to make a new st.Â
While knitting the sleeve, I tried something new. First, I decided to place the sleeve increases along the center of the sleeve, just to add visual interest and keep with the funky look of the jacket.  I was going to use the lifted increase method because it creates less st distortion, but decided instead to use m1 as it would match the fronts — and of course I got stitch distortion.  So, I tried something different and it worked perfectly:
You can see there are right and left slanted m1s without st distortion. The technique: make a yarnover (YO) on the row before the m1, in the same location as the m1 will be. A YO is simply a way of making the running thread longer between 2 sts. When it is knitted without a twist, it creates a new st and a decorative hole, as in lace. However, I knitted the YOs with either a right or left twist so there is no hole.
The Sunrise Circle Jacket is asymmetrical, so for me to place the YOs in the correct position, I would need to read the pattern rows backwards on the WS rows. Not necessary. The right side of the jacket already reverses the shaping. For example, when I set up for Row 3 on WS Row 2, I will read Row 3 of the right side of the jacket and substitute purl sts for knits and YOs for m1s. Then when I knit Row 3, I will knit the YOs with either a right twist or left twist depending on the pattern. Does this sound way too compulsive?  I thought so. Evidence that I have PKD. Perhaps I should adjust my meds!
