Sleeve Shaping Calculator
Enter your gauge, your upper arm and cuff stitch counts (or let the calculator work them out from your ease), and your sleeve and cuff lengths. You will get a ready-to-use decrease schedule for a sleeve worked in the round from the top down. This calculator is designed for traditionally shaped sleeves, where the decreases are worked at an even interval from the underarm to the cuff.
1. What is your gauge?
Please enter your own gauge, not the one stated in the pattern. Your round gauge in particular often differs from the pattern's, and it directly affects how often the decreases fall, so measure it on a blocked swatch worked in the round.
2. Upper arm and cuff stitches
Both numbers must be odd, or both must be even.
Enter your body measurements and the ease you like. Stitch numbers are rounded to the nearest even number.
3. Sleeve and cuff length
Measure the sleeve length from the underarm of your sweater to your wrist. Not from your actuall armpit. I highly recommend blocking your sweater before measuring as the armhole can sit lower after blocking and you may end up with a sleeve that is too long. This length includes the cuff.
The first 2.5 cm / 1" of the sleeve is always worked without shaping. Each decrease round removes 2 stitches, so the number of decrease rounds is half the difference between upper arm and cuff stitches. The remaining length (sleeve length minus cuff minus 2.5 cm / 1") is divided by the number of decrease rounds to get the decrease frequency.
If the schedule would make the sleeve longer than you asked for, the calculator shortens the last decrease interval (or, if needed, shortens some of the intervals) to keep the length. A difference of up to 1 cm / 0.4" is accepted and not corrected.
You can also use this calculator for sleeves worked from the cuff up. Simply reverse the logic: the decrease intervals become increase intervals, and they stay the same.