Deeply mixed feelings on this one. Due to a problem with creating and/or reading my gauge swatch, my first attempt was too large all over, but especially in the bust and armholes.

After corresponding with Amy herself, I knit a larger swatch in a tighter gauge and generated a new pattern. Since my yarn doesn’t have any natural drape like the alpaca Amy used for the original, I replaced the softly draped cowl with a deep split cowl instead.

Fit Choices

• Hourglass close fit
• Medium-hip length
• Full-length sleeves
• Lower bust shaping to 2.5 inches below armhole
• Narrow wrist to 6 inches

A Note on Stitch Patterns and Seams
CustomFit provides instructions for how to work any stitch patterns that are called for in the instructions, but does not appear to account for the number of stitches needed to seam pieces together, despite being designed to generate seamed patterns. I prefer to keep the first and last stitch in stockinette to make seaming easier, which meant altering all of my cast on numbers.

For Courant, all of the hems are in Broken Rib Stitch, which is a multiple of four. I wanted the Broken Rib to continue seamlessly all the way around the hems, and I was already concerned about the fit being too loose, so I chose to subtract two stitches from each cast on instead of adding two stitches.

This didn’t make much of a difference in the size of the body pieces, but did contribute to the sleeve cuffs being a little more snug than I like. However, I did choose to taper the sleeves more than the pattern called for, and my tubular cast on isn’t nearly as stretchy as I expected it to be. So I ultimately don’t think the two-stitch difference was the biggest culprit for the ill fit there, but in hindsight I should have added stitches instead of taking even more away.

Short-Row Shoulder Shaping
On my first sweater, I shaped the shoulders as instructed in the pattern. For the second iteration, I followed TECHknitter’s instructions for short-row shoulder shaping, and it drastically improved the seaming process. I highly recommend picking up this skill, and will use it myself for all future sweaters.

Knitting the Cowl
To make the split cowl, I calculated how much overlap was needed to account for the width of the buttons so that it could be worn buttoned up (the same as I would for a cardigan). I converted this amount to stitches, which I’ll call X. I picked up and knit X stitches through the front of the stitch only, picked up and knit the remaining stitches around the neck opening as normal, and then picked up the same X stitches through the back of the stitch only. I proceeded to work the cowl back and forth in Broken Rib Stitch, with the right side facing in and the wrong side facing out so that the right side of the stitch pattern would show when the cowl was folded open. I calculated the button spacing so that the button edges (rather than button centers) would be equidistant from each other and the cast on and bind off edges after sewing on.

If you’re curious about specific numbers, they are:

• 10-stitch overlap to accommodate the 1 1/8 inch buttons
• One-row buttonholes that are 8 stitches wide on rows 12, 29, 46, 63
• Knit 11 rows before first and after last buttonhole rows

I’m pretty proud of how it turned out considering I’d never knit anything cowl-necked before and made everything up as I went along.

Conclusion
The overall sweater fits okay, but it’s not my favorite. I think the gauge is too firm, resulting in a sweater that doesn’t recover as well as it should. I still feel like it’s too loose in the bust, and there’s excess fabric below the bust that obscures what little waist shaping I have. It doesn’t follow my back curve as closely as it could. The whole thing rides up when I lift my arms.

Suffice to say that it wasn’t quite the blissful knitting or wearing experience I’d hoped for. I’m jealous of everyone who’s managed to get a flattering fit already.

I’m going to give it another try, and if it doesn’t work out then at least I can spend the rest of my credits on my husband now that CustomFit can make straight sweaters for men.

Progress
11/05/2014 - Swatched. Chose US 6 needle for body and US 5 for edging.

11/06/2014 - Generated pattern and cast on for back.

11/09/2014 - Ready to bind off for back armholes.

11/11/2014 - Completed back.

11/12/2014 - Cast on front and completed ribbing.

11/16/2014 - Completed waist shaping decreases.

11/21/2014 - Completed front and cast on for sleeve #1.

11/23/2014 - Completed sleeve #1 and cast on for sleeve #2.

11/30/2014 - Completed sleeve #2.

12/01/2104 - Soaked and blocked.

12/07/2014 - Sewed up the side, sleeve, and shoulder seams. The size is completely wrong, and I am at a total loss. I’ll be emailing the CustomFit team for support.

12/08/2014 - First email to CF about gauge and flattering a straight proportional shape.

12/10/2014 - Reply from Amy herself!

12/10/2014 - Response to Amy committing to a new set gauge swatches.

01/07/2015 - Second email to CF about new swatch and next steps.

01/14/2015 - Reply from Amy, including a code to generate a new sweater pattern.

01/15/2015 - Response to Amy asking a final question about sleeve shaping and ease.

01/25/2015 - Generated new pattern and cast on. Chose US 4 needle for body and US 3 for edging.

03/07/2015 - Finished back.

03/29/2015 - Finished the front and seamed one shoulder. The other wouldn’t cooperate and it was late, so I put it to bed.

03/30/2015 - Seamed the other shoulder and cast on for a sleeve.