How To Pick Up Stitches In Knitting For Sleeves. As you are picking up the underarm stitches, it's important to pay close attention to the corners, at each side of the sleeve, between the held sleeve stitches (from the yoke) and the picked up stitches. Now pull the needle with the thread wrapped around it out of the hole and there is your first stitch.
Insert your needle into the next spot where you want to pick up a stitch. I often prefer to do this continental style, with the yarn in my left hand. The short end of the thread needs to be placed below the needle and the long end coming from the ball of wool above it, so that you can continue taking up stitches.
Divide the piece into sections.
Here we have prepared all the materials we need in order to show you how it works: Mark the center with a stitch marker or a scrap of yarn. Using the knitting needle pick up the first stitch, inserting the needle from back to front, the same way as if you were going to purl the stitch. Start with the right sleeve, and using a circular needle with the right side of the back facing you, start at the underarm and pick up stitches all around the back arm scythe to the shoulder seam.