You can alter an intarsia knit sweater. Really.
You pick the seams apart, and it's hard to see and very boring. I unraveled enough of the collar to have enough to sew it back on after altering, and I'm glad I did: yarn has more flex than thread, and why go look for more when I have more right here?
My fashion neck line template, which I thread traced
I did this before with an Edgar Allan Poe sweater from Archie McPhee's and it's held up well. Also lighter so you can see the details better on it than the present project.
The body has a little extra from where I moved the armseye down and did not want to cut into the knit on the vertical. It feels fine with this extra flap in the armpit.
I just trimmed off the cuff and rolled the edge up and secured it. I push my sleeves up a lot, and left cuffs off the sweaters I had knit for myself before.
The Interior of the neck line has held up very well.
And here's the exterior front
The yarn is not cotton. It's also not itchy, and it hasn't shrunk or needed blocking, so it's absolutely perfect.
So here's the shoulder/neckline of Santa Abe in process
And then you cut off the extra. It worked on the Poe, it will work here. I do two rows of stitching before I cut it though.
I am attaching the collar by hand,in this photo picking up the stitches and putting them on a waste yarn in a contrasting color on the open side to tack them down.
Test to make sure it's going to fit over your head
Not quite
...and you can buy your own....
https://mcphee.com/collections/clothing-accessories/products/santa-lincoln-sweater
or
https://mcphee.com/collections/clothing-accessories/products/edgar-allan-poe-sweater
