How to create thumbholes in a sweater pattern?

[setsunaluvr]

So, I am creating a sweater for a friend of mine, for her birthday, and I want to put thumbholes in the sleeves for her.

 

I am not sure how prevalent this practice is, but it is something I see a lot of, people cutting thumbholes in the sleeves of their hoodies so they can keep their hands warm in the sleeve and still use their hands.

 

The problem I have is, the pattern(All Around Jacket, or something like that, from red hearts website) doesn't have instructions for such an alteration, and this is the first time I will have ever made an alteration to a pattern.

 

I am not sure how to do this. At all. I have never altered a pattern in my life. None of the patterns I have ever done even had a hole in them, so I don't even know how to do one when a pattern calls for one.

 

How do I go about doing this?

[magiccrochetfan]

you can follow the directions here for a vertical buttonhole, just make it as tall as needed.  A slit like this should work fine.  you will need to measure the lenght of her arm to know how much longer to make the sleeve and where to place the slit.  

 

edited to add link  http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-crochet-a-buttonhole.html

[Granny Square]

Magic, was there supposed to be a link in your post?

 

I'm going to suggest a horizontal button hole, which is pretty easy and works either in the round or flat.  You just decide how many stitches wide you want it, (let's say 6--whatever the number make sure it's plenty big enough for her thumb, with some wiggle room); then at the point you want the buttonhole, instead of making 6 stitches, you chain 6, skip 6 stitches, and continue your pattern in the 7th stitch.  On the next row or round, just make stitches into or around those 5 chains, and continue on.

 

When measuring the arm for thumb hole placement, I'd measure them with arms bent - when you bend your arms, the sleeves ride up, and the thumb holes should be at the 'bent' position--closer to the cuff than they would be if arms were held at the sides.  You want plenty of ease so she doesn't pull the sleeve shoulder down when she sticks her thumbs in.

[magiccrochetfan]

Granny Square, thank you for telling me I omitted the link!