A funny Fidget Turtle for me

My back went out on me (yet again) on Monday. So, for the past 72 hours, I have been in so much pain that I literally could not walk a single step without using a mobility-assistive device like my rollator or (preferably) my wheelchair. But even with those, the pain is still excruciating, and thus I've been trying to move as little as possible.

My devices don't fit through the doors into our bathroom, so to go there, I just hang onto the door frames and/or walls.

It is not fun.

I'm scheduled for another MRI of my lower back in two weeks. So I'm just trying to survive until then. 

On the upside, I can tell that my back is feeling just a tiny, tiny, tiniest little bit better today. Thank goodness.

Anyway, I've been doing PT for my hips the past few weeks. My physical therapist loves turtles and has turtle iconography everywhere at her practice, including a pair of live turtles in a tank in the waiting room, which are so fun and relaxing to watch. So I decided to crochet some "fidget turtles" (meaning they have beads on them so they give your hands something to fidget with) as little gifts. I made three: one each for my PT, her office manager, and her student intern.

Today, I decided to crochet another fidget turtle for myself. This one (in purple) is slightly larger because it's meant to have a 3-inch mini whoopee cushion inside. It's a mashup between the Beaded Fidget Turtle pattern by Willow & Wild and the Tootie Cuties pattern by Stella Knight. 😂

The three little turtles don't have whoopee cushions inside them, alas. 

Beaded Fidget Turtles

This crochet Beaded Fidget Turtle, a paid pattern by Emily Nigro (aka Willow & Wild) is super cute and very quick and easy to make, and it requires just a small amount of yarn, 2 safety eyes, 16 pony beads, and a bit of stuffing. After you make one, you'll then want to make more in ALLLL the colors!! 😂

I crocheted it using a 4 mm hook and used a 2.5 mm hook for the bead stitches.

It even has a little tail!

This one is a gift for my physical therapist. Anyone can tell the moment they walk into my PT's office that she loves turtles, because turtle iconography is everywhere, and she even has a pair of live turtles in a tank in the waiting room. 🐢 The ambience is very calm and soothing, and it's fun to sit and watch the turtles swim or sun themselves on a rock.

BTW, my PT's name is Rey. It isn't every day that one gets to have a Jedi as one's physical therapist, eh?! She is excellent.

After I saw how adorable the first turtle for Rey turned out, I realized that I also had to make one for Rey's office manager, Hannah, and for Rey's student intern, Cheyenne. So I did. 😊 Now there are three widdle turtles for me to take to my next PT appointment, and each one is slightly different. 💜

I have also made the Beaded Hedgehog Fidget by Willow & Wild. Her patterns are always fun, well-written, easy to follow, and result in some really adorable critters. She has tons of amazing patterns to choose from, so you should definitely check them out. I'm sure I will be making more in the future!

Frost Guard Balaclava

I can tell already that this is going to be my new go-to winter accessory! The Frost Guard Balaclava by Marly Bird is one of those projects that provides ultimate comfort and versatility for the wearer while looking so stylish and cute. And because it's crocheted, it's very quick and easy to make. After you make one for yourself, you'll want to make one for all your loved ones too! 😊

Marly included so many thoughtful details in this design. It can be worn with the hood down as a cozy cowl. The ribbing is long enough to tuck inside the collar of your jacket, to keep those chilly drafts from getting to your neck. With the hood up, you get coverage to keep you protected from your neck to your ears to the top of your head, AND the hood is shaped to preserve your peripheral vision while you're wearing it. And for those extra-blustery days, there is a cord for cinching the hood down tight around your face. You can also opt to fold the ribbing up inside the hood to cover your nose and mouth like a scarf. And because it pulls over your head and sits around your neck, it won't slip off like a scarf does. This piece is just the perfect all-around cold-weather accessory. Marly shared a few quick videos demonstrating some of the fun ways to wear it: here, here, and here.

To me, one of the best features about this piece is that it keeps your head warm and protected without needing to fit snugly like a hat, so you can stay cozy without ending up with the dreaded HAT HAIR!!! 😂 Plus, since my typical daily hairstyle is wearing it up in a messy bun, this hood is sized to be large enough to fit over my hair without my having to have a hole in the back for my bun to poke out of, which is how I wear most of my regular hats. 

Marly designed this to be made with Caron Macchiato Cakes yarn, but I used a skein and a half of Lion Brand Scarfie in the Eggplant Taupe colorway, because it's a similar weight to the Macchiato yarn, and it's what I had on hand. I absolutely love this colorway and wish it hadn't been discontinued. 💜 

For the i-cord, I knitted that using my French knitter (the yellow tool seen in the above photo).

Kawaii ghost keycover

I needed a cover for my car's key fob/remote to help protect it while it was inside my purse. This adorable little ghost key cover is ready to go to work! 👻

I made this based on the Crochet Cute Ghost Key Cover design by Kukkacrochet by Putri on YouTube. I modified her design to fit over my car's key fob, and I didn't include the hat or bat topper portion.

For the face, I used these safety eyes (which I found on Amazon). After securing the backs to the eye posts, I used a lighter to carefully heat the eye posts and pressed them flat using the flat side of a hammer head. (You just need any heat-resistant flat surface to press down on the hot plastic, and a hammer head is what I had handy. I didn't actually "hammer" the eye posts to flatten them. 😂) This step usually requires a few separate times of heating the plastic and pressing it down until it's shaped the way you want it. The taller the eye posts, the more times you'll need to heat and press them. Don't try to do it all at once. Just take your time and work at it gradually, and eventually they will flatten out. You definitely want to be extra careful to NOT burn your yarn as you work!!

To secure the crochet chain to the split keychain loop, I added a pony bead. Any pony bead will do, but I happened to have a glittery purple heart-shaped bead in my stash, so of course I used that one. 😍  To slip the pony bead onto the chain, use a 2.5 mm hook. Place the bead on the hook, catch the crochet chain in the hook, and pull the chain loop through the bead.

I don't remember anymore where I got the colorful split keychain rings from (that was at least 10 years ago), but it might have been the craft section at Walmart. They came in a bag of about 100 (basically a lifetime supply for my craft room) in two different sizes in four different colors: purple, blue, green, and red. Naturally, I used a purple one for this project! 💜 Happy Halloweeeeeeen!!

My little keychain ghost also matches with my ghost wheelchair wheel covers! 😁👻💜
 

Stitch Sampler Afghan for Renee

A couple of years ago, my niece Renee joined the Annie's Attic Crochet Block of the Month Club to make this lovely Stitch Sampler Afghan in the Pearl/Cream colorway.

Renee has been crocheting even longer than I have, but she is in a different life stage than I am, and, a few months into her subscription, she realized that she just didn't have enough time to set aside for herself to enjoy crocheting these blocks.

I'm sure many of us can relate to her dilemma. It becomes an added layer of stress and/or guilt when we're subscribed to something that keeps coming at us, but in the process we end up finding out that we just don't have the time to engage with it.

So after six months, Renee cancelled her subscription and stashed the unused kits in her closet in the hope that she would eventually get around to making them.

Alas, the months kept flying by, and Renee found herself having only finished the first block.

Earlier this summer, she packed all the kits into a tote bag, which included the first six pattern brochures, all of the yarn, and the first block she made, and called me to ask if I would be interested in having them. She wasn't asking me to make the blanket for her; she just wanted the stuff out of her closet, and she assured me that if I took it, I could make whatever I wanted to with the yarn. Of course, I was happy to receive her offering. To me, the yarn and patterns were a gift, yet I also completely understood her need to be rid of them to protect her mental health in this moment. I have been there myself from time to time.

However, I also knew immediately that even if I used some of the yarn to make other things, I would secretly finish making the blanket and gift it back to her. 🩷 I think she will be surprised when I gift it to her but also pleased that she will be able to have this blanket in her home after she thought that would never happen.

In fact, the first thing I did was to crochet an open-mesh cardigan for myself using some of the yarn. 😂 

Then I got busy crocheting the blocks for this blanket. Because each block is different, and because the pattern arranges the blocks in a way that does not follow their numerical order, I printed out little labels (I just printed them on paper and cut them out) to mark the number for each block and attached them with safety pins as I finished each one to help keep things organized as I went along. You can see the pinned-on labels in some of my photos. These were easy to remove once the blanket was fully assembled according to the pattern. Here's a link to download a copy of a PDF for my labels, in case you would like to use them for your blanket project.

I finished making the first 18 blocks from the six pattern brochures in the kits that Renee had purchased. Then I was faced with a decision: Do I find a way to get the rest of the pattern brochures (or a PDF of the pattern) from Annie's, or do I make up my own block designs until I have enough made to finish the blanket?

I did already have an account at Annie's from a pattern purchase I made years and years ago. So I decided to reach out to their customer service and ask if it would be possible for me to purchase the entire Stitch Sampler Blanket pattern as a PDF.

The short answer is no, they don't sell this pattern separately from the kits. (Hint-hint, Annie's; you would probably make a few extra pattern sales if you also sold this pattern separately from the kits!)

I explained my situation and how I was attempting to finish the blanket for my niece, who had purchased half of the kits. The rep who was helping me looked up Renee's account to confirm my story, then she said that she could arrange to have the other half of the kits (including the rest of the yarn and pattern brochures) sent to me all at once if I agreed to purchase them. I mulled this over for a bit and then decided to do it. The rep also added to my account the digital versions of the patterns (all of which include video tutorials) from all the kits Renee had purchased, as well as the digital patterns and videos from all the kits I purchased, which was so nice and very helpful. So I now had the complete pattern, plus all the matching yarn I needed to finish the blanket.

The individual blocks are very quick to make, and most of them were easy for me, but there were a few that I needed to view the videos to understand how to do them. You know how it is; trying to explain the steps in writing can often be waaay more confusing than just to SHOW someone the steps. But even the ones that I needed the video for were fairly easy to crochet once I understood the steps.

I would make a block or three each evening during my break from work. That's how quick and easy most of the blocks were.

I finished crocheting the blocks on Aug. 15, and I finished weaving in the ends on Aug. 27. Even though I used a 5.5 mm hook to crochet all of them, I tend to be a tight crocheter, so even after adding a border that's a little more than 2 inches deep, the finished size of the blanket only measures about 46 inches by 52 inches. I'm pretty sure that the blanket will relax and maybe grow a bit after laundering (and certainly after being used for a while), but if I ever make another one of these later, I would probably use at least a 6 mm hook. (P.S. The blanket did grow about 3 inches in width and 4 inches in length after laundering. Yay!)

I deviated from the pattern in a couple of ways. First, I moved the position of Block 1 (the one Renee had made) from the outer-right column to place it more toward the center, because I wanted to "mark" her block with a little crocheted pink heart applique, and thus I figured it would look nicer if her block was placed closer to the "heart" (or center) of the blanket. So I swapped places with Blocks 1 and 29. To join the blocks, I used a technique where I slip-stitched into one block, then chained one, then slip-stitched into the other block, then chained one, and repeated that going back and forth all along the seam. That gives a nice, solid join that has a small bit of zig-zag texture but is subtle and doesn't detract from the prettiness of the actual blocks. I also deviated in the way I worked the border. I did one round of SC followed by one round of DC, followed by one round of SC, followed by one round of DC, followed by one round of SC, followed by one round of twisted SC.

For the little heart applique, I used a small amount of Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn in the Rosy Cheeks colorway from my stash and a 4.5 mm hook. I followed this video tutorial by ElyseCrochets on YouTube, which makes a lovely little quick and easy heart.

The blanket was finished in time for me to enter it in our local fair, so I'm planning to do that.

Annie's schematic

 

Montie's True Blues XL blanket

This is just a simple XL corner-to-corner moss stitch crochet blanket worked with two complementary colorways of yarn. 

Recently I saw a reel where crocheters were basically losing their minds in the comments at how beautiful this simple, monochrome C2C moss stitch baby blanket was by Laura of Hook and Fiber Made. It reminded me of how versatile crochet moss stitch is, because it works really well in solid colorways but also just as well in variegated colorways and also in other configurations, such as stripes, and I was fairly certain that it would look nice being worked up in stripes of the two colorways of yarn that I had in mind for this project.

Close up

Hooked by Robin has a good video tutorial on YouTube for how to make a C2C moss stitch blanket. I basically used the same process for this blanket; the only difference was that I used two colorways of yarn, alternating colors every two rows so I could carry the unused color up without ever having to cut it.

The somewhat unorthodox method I used to change colors is very much like what Play Hooky with Me shows in this video tutorial. The differences for me are that I'm working in moss stitch (so, SC and chains) and I'm only changing color at the end of every-other row. After changing colors, chaining and turning the work, I pulled the dropped color strand so it was crossing over the edge where I was working from back to front, where I would crochet over it without catching it in a stitch. (The strand would then be caught by and lie between my turning chains and the first SC of the new row.) That kept the dropped color close enough to pick up again the next time I changed colors, where I would repeat the process, and with marled look of the multicolored yarns I was working with, the "floats" are barely noticeable at all along the edge. If you were concerned about the floats being visible, all you would have to do is to crochet a border on your blanket as a finishing step; the first round of the border would fully conceal the floats.

Edge with floats vs. edge w/o floats

Using that method meant that the only tails I had to weave in at the end were the ones at the start and at the end of the project.

The yarn I used is Red Heart Bitty Stripes in the Horizon (blue) and Seaweed (green) colorways. Those are the same colors that I used to make my new grandnephew Waylon's blanket.

When I first started working on Waylon's blanket, my husband looked at what I was doing and said that he would actually like to have a similar-looking blanket for himself. That was a jaw-dropping moment for me, because if you know my husband the way I do, he NEVER wants me to crochet or knit ANYTHING for him, and he directly said so to me many times over the years. 😂 (Not because he doesn't support me in what I want to do, but because he is very particular about what he will and will not wear, and he doesn't want to hurt my feelings by not wearing something I've made for him if he doesn't choose to wear it.) So for him to tell me that he would actually LIKE for me to make him a blanket constitutes a jaw-dropping moment in my book.

My only concern was that this is not a tunisian entrelac pattern, as Waylon's blanket was. I did admittedly find tunisian crochet a bit challenging, so it wasn't as enjoyable for me, and I didn't want to attempt another tunisian blanket again this soon if I could avoid it. So I worked up a good start on the C2C moss stitch design so that I could give my husband a realistic preview of what the finished blanket would look like. I figured the worst that could happen would be that he said he didn't care for it, and if that happened, I could just finish off the blanket anyway, figure out what to do with it later, and then start on another tunisian one for him.

Another feature of the C2C moss stitch that I like better than tunisian entrelac is that moss stitch produces a fabric that is entirely reversible and looks equally good on either side. And another nice thing about moss stitch is that it grows surprisingly quickly, even though it isn't a tall crochet stitch.

I reached 60 inches wide on the short side of the rectangle after working 41 stripes each of both color A and color B. (Each stripe is two rows.) So the width for the short side of the rectangle was achieved after working 82 stripes, which equals 164 rows. 

60 inches wide

With the target width achieved, now I could stop increasing at one end of the row while continuing to increase at the other end of the row to continue to increase the length of the blanket until the target length of 84 inches was reached. (Details for how to work the "straight" rows are in the video by Hooked by Robin linked above.)

Turning the corner

If I've counted correctly, the straight rows are 167 single crochet stitches wide. Plus the chains in between, for however many total stitches long that is on the diagonal. 😅

Gauge view

Slogging through the middle section took months, because those are the longest rows, and they just seemed to go on and on and on and onnnn...

Fair time is coming. CROCHET FASTER!

But, finally, the long side reached its target length, and then I was able to start decreasing at both ends of the rows, heading toward the final corner. Changing colors on the decrease edges works about the same as on the increase edges, in that I would still pull the dropped color across, from back to front, and then crochet over it as I worked the next row, to secure the float where it needed to be to be picked up again. The only difference was making a decrease there instead of an increase.

Turning toward home!

Thankfully, I finished the blanket in time to enter it into our local fair. There's nothing flashy or fancy about the blanket; it's just the biggest single thing that I've ever made, so I wanted to enter it in the fair because of that. 😀

Peek-a-boo! (He's standing on the hearth.)

 

Fair time is coming

Fair time is coming. ... CROCHET FASTER!!!! 😂🧶

This is a candid shot of me working on my C2C moss stitch Montie's giant blanket WIP. The blanket is approximately 80% complete here. The final dimensions will be 60 inches by 84 inches. Whew!!! Here's hoping that I finish it in time to enter it into the fair. 😁🤞

Boho Crochet Hexi Cardigan

This is a hexi cardigan designed using a modified version of the stitch pattern from the Lazy Diamond Boho Pocket Shawl by Crystal White-Van Cleemput.

Toggles and twisted fringe added

I started out using a six-sided hexagon instead of a four-sided square, but other than that, the stitch sequence is identical to the pattern in the original design. I think this design lends itself well to the hexi cardi style, and I'm looking forward to being able to wear this because it's cozy and looks super cute in this Red Heart Super Saver Ombre yarn in the Anthracite colorway. 

Hexagon

The magic of the hexi cardi is what happens to the shape when you fold the hexagon in half: You instantly have the shape of half of a cardigan with a sleeve and half of the body.

Folded in half, plus extension rows on body edges

It's easy to crochet a hexi cardi shaped in a way that best fits your unique body. Begin by crocheting the two hexagons until they have enough rounds for the sleeves to easily fit around the widest part of your arms. If you still need additional rows to make the body of the cardi fit around your torso, you can add those rows later on the just center-back and center-front edges.

I suggest that you fold each hexagon in half and mark the edges that you intend to join across the top of the sleeve, then join those edges together before moving on to add any extra rows to the center-back and center-front edges. Sewing the sleeves closed first helps to make it easier to see which edges you should be adding to for extra width around the body.

Each hexagon is one-half of the cardigan, and the hexagons are joined at the center-back to create the cardigan.

Assembled, with extra length rows before adding pockets

If you want your cardigan to be longer, I suggest adding more rows to the bottom edge after joining the two halves together for a more polished finish. If you want to add pockets to your cardigan (and who doesn't love having pockets?!?!), wait to add those until you have finished adding any length to the bottom edge, to help ensure that you are able to position the pockets where they are most comfortable for you.

With pockets added

After completing those steps, you can then choose whether to add cuffs to the ends of the sleeves and/or whether to add a placket to the front edges. These cardigans can be worn without any fasteners, so you might not need to add a placket at all if you choose not to use buttons or a zipper on the front of your cardi.

I also added twisted fringe along the bottom edge using my handy Maple Quad End Fringe Twister from Etsy seller theknitstore. 

I debated whether I wanted to leave the front of my cardi open, but after my husband found a set of nice toggle closures (similar to these), I decided they would be a nice finishing touch.

I will be entering this project in our local fair this year.

Facet Keychain wristlet

This is the Facet Keychain pattern by Amy Kate Sutherland of The Graceful Tangle. These keychain wristlets work up super fast and are easy to finish. The pattern is a great way to use up small remnants of cotton yarn. I had a random remnant of this yellow/green/turquoise colorway of Lily Sugar N Cream cotton yarn in my stash. There wasn't quite enough yardage of the colorful yarn to finish two wristlets, so I alternated every two rows with some white cotton for the second wristband.

These would work with a variety of different keychain hardware types. I had these D-ring swivel lobster clasps that I found on Amazon on hand, so that's what I used, but there are many different keychain clasp styles and even ones with prettier finishes available online.

Amy shared this full video tutorial on YouTube:

 

Ginkgo Night Moves scarf

This free pattern is Night Moves, a lovely shawl or scarf designed by PurpleIguana. For my project, I followed Fiber Spider's video tutorial and patern mods. His mods begin when we reach the first decreasing row. 

I also greatly appreciate PurpleIguana's notes about yarn usage that she included on her Ravelry project page. 

The shape of these crochet shells reminds me of ginkgo leaves. 

Fiber Spider project inspo photo

I had a partial cake of the Red Heart It's a Wrap Rainbow in the Foggy colorway that had 134 grams  out of the original 150 grams. (I also had two other full-size cakes on hand.) I wanted to try to use all of the partial cake for this scarf, so, based on the notes on PurpleIguana's project page (linked above), I calculated that I needed to crochet my scarf until it weighed about 89 grams before starting the decrease rows described in Fiber Spider's mods.

I was working from the white end of the cake to the gray end of the cake. On my first attempt, I started the decreases a bit early and ended up with still having quite a bit of the gray left, so I placed a marker to indicate where I started decreasing and then ripped back to that point. Then I crocheted another four-row repeat section using the original (increasing) stitch sequence before starting the decreasing rows again.

As you can see in my photo, the plies of this yarn are not spun at all, which can sometimes make it a bit fiddly to work with. But, overall, it is a lovely yarn that feels soft and light.

Plies not spun

On that second attempt, I ended up running out of the gray a few rows before the end of the scarf, so I stole a few grams of the gray end of one of my other cakes to complete this project. 😂 Hey, it's my yarn stash; I can do what I want with it. 😹

Before blocking

I soaked the scarf in a washtub with a splash of Woolite and a few drops of peppermint essential oil mixed in, with the hope that some of the fragrance will remain in the fiber after it's dried. I would have liked to have used lavender essential oil for the fragrance, but I only had peppermint on hand, so I used what I had. But now I'm thinking that I need to add a vial of the lavender to my collection soon (ha!!). This project turned out so well that I'm intending to enter it in the fair this fall, and I would like the fiber to have some lingering fragrance, if possible, to please the judges. 🤞

After rinsing and gently squeezing the scarf, I rolled it inside a fluffy bath towel and pressed out the remaining excess water. Then I pinned it to the blocking boards, gently pulling out the bottom sawtooth points and opening up the lace. As you can see in the photos, the blocking makes the scarf several inches taller than it was before blocking. But it would be lovely either way, with or without blocking.

Blocking

Dimensions after blocking: 80 inches by 14 inches. I will be entering this project in our local fair this year.

Levi's shirt gusset

I try to keep a lightweight cardigan or overshirt in the car during the summer for those times when we're already out (running errands, going to doctor appointments, etc.) and we spontaneously decide to stop someplace to eat. Most restaurants keep their summertime air conditioning set to what feels like sub-zero, and I've reached the age where I get uncomfortable when I'm cold or sitting in a draft, so putting on an extra layer goes a long way toward keeping me content on those occasions.

We recently had a day where we were out and about, and we decided it was a good opportunity for us to eat out before heading home, except I didn't have a cardigan with me to put on in the restaurant. So, before heading to eat, we stopped at a shop and bought me this lovely lightweight denim/chambray Levi's shirt to slip on over the t-shirt I was wearing.

The shirt fit me well enough off the rack (I could button it down the front, etc.), and it kept me comfortable at the restaurant, but it was a snug fit, and I could tell that I would like the shirt even more if I added gussets for some extra ease. 

So, a few days later, I searched online and found some lovely light blue floral-print chambray fabric. I ordered 1.5 meters, which was way more yardage than I needed for the gussets, but I figured that I would eventually find a use for the remaining fabric. 😂

Even though the floral fabric isn't stretch chambray (which the description says), it's exactly the color and print that I envisioned using for the gusset panels on my Levi's shirt, so I'm happy with it. (The shirt doesn't stretch, either, so it's actually better that floral fabric isn't stretchy.)

Shirt and fabric before cutting:

First, I measured the length of the side seams (from hem to cuff) to know how long the gusset strips would need to be. My shirt measured about 29 inches from hem to cuff, so I cut my gusset strips from the floral fabric about 32 inches long (to give myself plenty of length for seam allowances) by 7 inches wide.

Before cutting the shirt open along the side seams, I had to remove the cuffs. This step made me a bit nervous, because I hadn't sewn anything with nice cuffs like this before.

I used my seam ripper and worked slowly and carefully until the cuffs came free from the sleeves. I set the cuffs aside to be reattached later.

Whew!! 😅

After the cuffs were removed, I took a couple of pins and pinned the tabs (the ones that secure the sleeves when they're rolled up) out of the way inside the sleeves, to keep them safe during the shirt cutting and gusset sewing.

Then it was time to cut the shirt open along the side seams. Using my sharpest scissors, and again working slowly and carefully, I cut as close as I could on either side of the bulky side seams, removing and discarding the strips from the old seams.

The next step was to zigzag stitch along all the raw edges of the shirt and the gusset strips, to minimize fraying later.

Now it was time to start sewing the gusset strips together with the shirt.

I finger-pressed about a 3/8-inch hem along one short edge of each gusset strip and then stitched across that hem to secure it. Then I put one side of the shirt and one of the gusset strips together with right sides facing, carefully lining up the bottom edge of the shirt with the bottom (hemmed) edge of the gusset strip, then sewed the pieces together from hem to cuff using a 3/8-inch seam. I repeated that process for the other three long seams. Then I pressed the seam allowance toward the gussets and topstitched over the seam allowances to secure them.

With all that work done, the only thing left to do was to reattach the cuffs. But, of course, the sleeves were now about 6 inches bigger around than they used to be, with the added gussets. So to get the sleeves to fit the original cuffs, I stitched two rows of basting stitches in the seam allowance of the ends of the sleeves and used the basting to gather the cuffs to a size that would fit in the cuffs. I pinned the inside edge of each cuff to the corresponding sleeve and stitched along that inside edge to secure the cuff to the sleeve. Then I enclosed the raw edge of each sleeve by positioning the outside edge of the cuff in place and topstitching to finish.