03-04-2021

It would appear that the instruction to pick up for the left front shoulder from the armhole edge side is an error. Not only wouldn’t it work, based on this construction, but the video showing how to do this shows clearly that the designer picks up from the neck side of the left front shoulder, not the under arm side. Since this pattern seems to be put together very specifically to help new knitters, this could be confusing to some…

Mid-Round Cable Cast On (used when joining the back and front aka Upper Body section): Another thing that would have been quite helpful is for the pattern to advise that when you’re working cable cast on in the middle of a round, you should turn the work around (to WS), do the cable cast on from the WS, then turn it back facing forward, and continue on. I rarely do cable cast on, much less mid round, but thank goodness it occurred to me to look it up. As it is, I messed up the underarm increases (not the end of the world, there are only 2 st per side cast on in my size), but my work would be that much neater if I’d decided to refresh my memory sooner. For all of the content this pattern provides, this is the kind of info that I consider to be value-add.

Also, I don’t know that I’ve ever done a top down sweater with this specific construction (they’ve all either been raglan, yoked, or contiguous). It’s fussy for those few rows when you connect the 2 fronts to the back - more so than when knitting bottom up in the round or using the other top down methods I’ve mentioned above, but quick. What I will say about this construction is that it creates a delightfully fitted shoulder.

04-04-2021

Got to bust apex after 32R (vs the pattern-anticipated 20R, which gets me to ~9.5” from the shoulder seam to working edge of yarn). I need at 11” from the shoulder seam to get to my full bust depth - which has been made that much more knowable by doing the neck icord edging before starting the bust darts (and then re-trying it on to see how the fabric may have lifted above the apex in light of the tightening of the neck opening). The designer suggests knitting the sleeves before the darts because that can raise the yarn slightly above the apex. I actually think checking the apex against the completed neckline likely does more or less the same thing .

Once I get back to the apex, I’m going to block this again because I don’t love how the icord is rolling open at this point (want to ensure I can tame that) and because I want to see the fabric as it will be and I want to make it easier to pick up the sleeve stitches.

Update: to get from shoulder top to full bust took 11” / 32R (from Upper Body section) of vertical depth because my bust is very projected and my breasts cantilever from my chest (my boobs are not shallow and distributed across a wide chest base).

Having reblocked the upper bodice (minus sleeves, but with neck edge knitted), the garment has an inch of positive ease at the bust. As mentioned above, because of this, I’m not going to do bust darts at all.

This pattern has been drafted delightfully for people with narrow frames and proportionately large breasts. It fits as well in the shoulders as in the bust, with no alterations given my proportions (upper bust 34.5”, shoulder tip-shoulder tip 15”, full bust in bra that fits well, gore tacks, no pillowing 39”, under bust 32”).

What I rarely say is that I’m glad I didn’t go smaller in the shoulder size because the fit on this account is great. I also feel that the neck depth is just right knit on the smaller needle (I didn’t need to go down more needle sizes.)

05-04-2021

At 20.5” from shoulder tip, begin the ribbing (for 2 inches - if ribbing is meant to be longer or shorter, remove or add that that to or from the 20.5”). At this point you’ve done 13.5” from shoulder tip and this gets you to just below the underbust (bra underwire).

For future reference, with a fitted shoulder (6.75” in depth), you need to knit 7” from the base of the armhole to fit your full bust (to its base at the under bust).

Also, note that I switched balls at 7” below armhole base to start using the ball that (I think) is going to be bluer.

06-04-2021

Section 7 - Armholes - Pick Up Stitches: It took me a while to figure this out given that first time around, I was going for the max decrease option (12 st in size 3) to make the bicep dimensions smaller. If I’m not mistaken - if you opt for the max decrease option, A (number of rows) is zero, so you don’t actually pick up any stitches, technically, for 1. Upper armhole. Instead you just move on to 2. Mid armhole and follow those instructions, from the marker, which in the case of max decrease option, means that the marker is at the shoulder seam. Like everything else with this pattern, it took a really long time, going through multiple platforms, to figure this out (and I’m not even sure I’m right yet)… Update: I ended up ripping back the first sleeve and I’ll reknit it with more ease and given the instructions A=8. I’ll start the sleeve cap 8 st. from the shoulder seam…

Hem Ribbing -I’m at the point where I’m starting the hem ribbing on the body. I have 230 stitches (as I currently understand it, the number I should have at this time, given that I made no changes to the body measurements and the schematic shows that there are no inc or dec, as the pattern is written aka it is straight from the bust). Alas, 230 is not divisible by 6 (which is what the ribbing requires). I’ll re-read the instructions to ensure that I haven’t missed something. At this point, don’t know if I’m more inclined to decrease a couple of stitches or just rip back and do regular rib.

I opted to decrease 2 st to 228 (cuz this sweater is bigger in the hip circ than I generally like) so things are now evenly divisible re: hem stitch pattern.

Here’s the truth of the matter - I went back to start looking through the pattern for the umpteenth time, so that I could figure out what I’d missed and it was so unappealing to do so that I just said fuck it and removed 2 st, one on either side of the BOR marker. I really have no interest in engaging with these instructions any further.

11-04-2021

Body completed - Length, pre-blocking, 22” and the ribbing is just over 2”. I did 11 repeats of the 2 round ribbing pattern (22 rounds in total) to get to this rib depth.

The circ at the full bust (blocked up to this point) is 39”. The as yet unblocked circ at the hem is currently more like 38” (because I didn’t increase any stitches, actually decreased 2 st, and went down a needle size, and worked the stretchy broken rib pattern) . I will block this “straight” so that the torso is one tube with slight a-line at hem (I bound off loosely enough and the ribbing is very stretchy).

As of this point, I have 154g remaining to make the sleeves (77g per sleeve). That means I’ve used 211g for the body. I have 42% of the yarn remaining and, per common estimation, the sleeves will take about 32% of the total yardage of the sweater. So I should have ~36g of this yarn remaining at the end…

12-04-2021

Sleeve Saga: Knitted the first sleeve with 2” circ removed and decided it was too short and too tight. So, to rework the sizing, I went back to the book plus the templates plus the printed pattern (that refers to the book and the templates) and spent an hour determining the rate of decrease over a longer sleeve. Why I didn’t just do the math for myself is beyond me.

Reknit the first sleeve and, it didn’t work either so I’ve ripped back to 58st on needles (that’s all I have the stomach for given that I will just give this garment away or rip it back if I still don’t like it at the end…) I’m not one of those who dislikes knitting sleeves but these are going at the pace of a snail, esp given the short row construction in the sleeve cap and the fact that I’ve basically already knit 2 sleeves, if ones that I ripped out thereafter. I once again followed the customized pattern decrease instructions, having added back in 1.25” of ease, and it’s now slightly looser than I would like at the upper arm. Oh well.

OK, next sleeve update: Ripped back for the third time, this time to 46st but on the next round, I actually did a 2 st increase to get back to 48st (the circumference I like best). This is definitely the most ridiculous sleeve knitting experience I’ve had to date - and they are not difficult to knit in any way! In retrospect, I would def have cast on 4 fewer stitches when picking up stitches for sleeves. My first-time bicep circumference was 70 st. On second try, it was 78 st. I guess I should have just split the diff and cast on 76st (decreasing to 74st after the short rows). One other thing - though I have narrow wrists and forearms, somehow I’ve still opted to begin the ribbing with 48 stitches on the needles, not 36, because otherwise the sleeve feels restrictive to me. While I’m sure my gauge has tightened, given how much I’m not enjoying this process, I don’t think it can account for a need for 12st of extra ease. I can totally wear the sleeve with 36st cuff, but it’s not pleasant (though I usually size down at cuffs because they are often too loose on me).

17-04-2021

Pre-blocked Dimensions:

Chest circ: 39”
Hip circ: 38”
Back neck width: 6.75”
Neck depth: 6.5”
Length from centre back neck to cast off hem: 21.75”
Armscye depth: 6.75”
Shoulder width (without icord at neck edge): 2.6”
Length from shoulder tip to cuff edge: 19.5”
Length from underarm to cuff edge: 16”
Length from underarm to hem edge: 16” (block this slightly longer and give very slight a-line shaping…)
Bicep circ: 12”
Wrist circ: 7”

Post-blocked Dimensions:

Chest circ: 38.25”
Hip circ: 38”
Back neck width: 6.75”
Neck depth: 6.5”
Length from centre back neck to cast off hem: 22”
Armscye depth: 6.75”
Shoulder width (without icord at neck edge): 2.75”
Length from shoulder tip to cuff edge: 21”
Length from underarm to cuff edge: 17”
Length from underarm to hem edge: 16.25”
Bicep circ: 10”
Wrist circ: 6.5”

I just realized I started knitting this 2 weeks ago (and unusually, I also made another fingering-weight sweater in March). The last sweater (Hvide) felt like it knit up in a flash. This knit felt endless but it actually came together quickly. Here’s hoping I like the end result!

Final Thoughts:

• The yarn def shrank horizontally but this works to my advantage in the hem and bust fit.
• I really don’t understand the deal with the arm circumference - my swatch lied, apparently, my gauge changed AND I decreased 0.75” of circumference in bicep - so there are a number of variables to consider. But based on my experience, even if you’re one of those people who always sizes down in the arms (like me), I’d try the original sleeve first. It’ll fit most naturally/easily into the armhole and, if there is some weirdness going on with the pattern sizing (and I don’t think there is), then you may mitigate a challenge. My sleeves fit fine (I don’t intend to wear this over another garment) and they will loosen with wear, but that’s my big surprise with this knit.
• Sleeves ended up using much less yarn than anticipated. Each one took 48 g.
• I’m very glad I didn’t do the a-line shaping of the body. As it is, I got a straight/ slight-a-line fit that doesn’t hang overly away from my body (given that I have projected breasts), which is my preferred shaping for my dimensions.
• The yarn blocked out with no bias but I can’t really trust this yarn anymore. Time will tell.
• This pattern shines as a wardrobe staple that’s highly modifiable. It’s well-drafted and produces an upper bodice (neck, shoulders, armscye) that is very fitted (what I like and what’s so hard to do when working from a pattern that hasn’t been designed with boobs in mind).
• Unfortunately, while I can recommend the finished object, I cannot recommend the pattern. The process was unnecessarily convoluted and it put me off.