Armhole steek - first attempt

I jumped into the unkown with both feet and my sweater. I crocheted the armhole steek using my Cascade 220 (could not find anything smaller that was 100% wool) and cut it. Then I picked up stitches around the armhole and knit around once. I studied the schematic of the sleeve on the pattern that was my inspiration and noted that the top of the sleeve cap is 4 inches wide. I knit 4 inches centering it on the shoulder seam and then started short rows. I pick up the wrap and knit it with the wrapped stitch, then go 2 stitches beyond and do another WT and go back the other way. The cap on the sleeve is growing and will hopefully make a nice turn for the shoulder.



I have one big EEK. I decided the seam on the inside was too bulky and started trimming. I got too close to my crochet line and it pulled away. EEEEK. I attempted to felt some of the seam edge by spritzing some water and using my fingers but only had limited success. My next idea is to buy some Fray Check, but I tried this stuff years ago when I did a lot of sewing and I was not impressed with it. I know on the Shetland wool sweaters they do not need anything to stabilize the steek but then that yarn is pretty 'grabby'.

I decided that even the Enterprise on Star Trek had its off days when braving new frontiers.