• Knitting the size small with no alterations for M. Note: bought another skein to have enough to make this in the same fabric, which M really loves. It’s not the same dye lot so I’ll either have to alter skeins OR I’ll live on the edge. She says she doesn’t care either way. Update: I appear to be alternating cuz I am who I am. I didn’t do a gauge swatch because I’m using the same yarn and pattern to make this a second time - and, more relevantly still, I don’t mind if this knitted up a bit smaller or larger than the last one (and without my previous mods, this one is def going to be smaller, just in size).

• Started on US5 (as per my last version) but it felt too open this time - and I know (from my first version, knitted with this yarn) it’s going to grow in all ways. So I switched to a US4.

• Before Joining at the Underarm: For future reference (as I didn’t mess this up the first time I made this garment, but I did mess it up this time): Given shoulder short rows , in order to ensure that your front and back body join at the correct row, you should count the number of garter bump rows from the shoulder to the armpit at the arm (not neck) edge.

• On the back body, once fixed, I worked 46R (starting at the beginning of the section called Back Yoke - this is after knitting the 4 rows in All Sizes category of Cast On for Back Neck section). I finished on WS R8 ready to start RS when joining in the round. On the front body, I worked the first chart to the end of R28 (where the repeat box ends). This was 29R because the chart starts on R0. I then worked the repeat box for the second time (to the end of R18). This was 39R altogether. I was then ready to start R19 of the chart when joining in the round. That got me to the exact same depth and number of rows from the outside (arm side) of the top of the shoulder to the base of the armscye. Both were 6 garter bump rows plus 8R of stockinette below the join at the shoulders. FWIW, this is an example of how I got cocky and assumed that I had things sorted, having spent a lot of time when I made the first version to that I knew what was what. Oh well, that’s 3 hours I won’t get back.

• After knitting the repeat panel a total of 4x (first time in pattern and then 3x repeat), I knitted one 10R repeat of stockinette bordered by purl rounds. At that point I was at approx 10.75” below join at underarms. Given that M is a slender person, boobs won’t take up torso length so I am optimistic that this length will work. I wonder if, when I made this garment for myself, I did one additional repeat. (As it happens, I did NOT do an extra repeat on my version. I worked the first (3-petaled) flower up at the neckline, followed by 10 after that…

• About the Sleeves: I once again had difficulty fitting the recommended number of stitches into the armscye. I wonder what’s up with that because I def made the depth the 7” called for. I cast on 64 vs 70 st, because that’s the number that fit reasonably. I’d prob do 66 were I to make this again in the first size. As such, I worked the first short row at 6 stitches past the shoulder seam marker (but then followed the instructions for the rest of the short rows). I wanted to maintain the proportions while recognizing that I was working with fewer stitches. While this totally worked, it does mean that the armsyce is higher than it otherwise would be. That’s ok. I’m making it for a slender person who doesn’t mind fitted arms. I will be able to block it to the 7” of depth and this yarn grows over time. But something to consider given that I had this issue the last time…

• Knitting the Neckband: Once again, I casted on 116st (vs the 132 st recommended for size 1). It creates a very nice neckline that is NOT boat-like. Note to self: Were I to make this again for me, I’d make the size 1 till joining at underarm and then do increases at side body to accommodate for full bust. I don’t think it’s necessary to make the back body in size 1 and the front body in size 2 (as I did last time) just to get the desired neck shape. The neckline can be turned from boat to scoop by simply casting on far fewer stitches than recommended - at least in my experience and in the smaller sizes.

• About the Yarn: The new skein is both a slightly diff colour and a diff texture than the original yarn. It’s very subtle, colour-wise, but the new skein has a slightly yellower undertone. In terms of texture, the new yarn looks like it came from a diff batch of the spun fibre and it’s very slightly slimmer. The yarn dyer did indicate I might want to alternate skeins given that they are from diff hand-dyed batches. She also suggested that the batches are very closely matched. I’m not sure if they’re as closely matched as I was hoping they’d be. But I did know that I was taking a risk. Update: I did alternate skeins throughout parts of this project (doing diff sections with diff balls until join. Then once I got past the decrease segment, I started alternating again…

• New way of alternating balls that I’ve never used before but will def will in future: I’m amazed I’ve never heard of this… All I did, after joining a second ball on the first stitch of the round, and then working it to the end, was to bring the working yarn to the front and pick up the previously worked yarn (which was brought to the front of the work at the BOR, before joining the second ball), which then became the working yarn. Thereafter, I just repeated this process, alternating the skeins, by bringing the just worked yarn string to the front and the “to be worked” string to the back (to then start knitting). There’s no ladder, no crunchy line up the side where the yarns were wrapped (they were never wrapped). Strikes me that this is way easier than helical knitting and it might work joglessly for colour changes - though I haven’t tried it. I have to imagine, if it worked, then everyone would be doing it… This is def how I’ll alternate skeins of diff dye lots going forward. Things also get less tangled than when using the helical approach.

Final Thoughts

• I think I’d use a US4 were I to make this again for myself. This kind of fabric really grows with wear and I like a fitted silhouette.

• I can’t see the distinction between the 2 dye lots (at least not pre-blocking) and I did use one ball only for certain segments of the garment when it would have been too fussy to alternate. Now that I’ve learned the new yarn alternating technique noted above, I would start skein alternating right after joining the body. It doesn’t even impact side seam decreases (as long as the decreases start on the second stitch after the BOR marker and end one stitch before it - which is how these decreases are written).

• For future reference, it took ~15% more yarn to make my version (a modified size 2 using US5 needles) than it took to make this version (a size one with no mods using US 4 needles). And still my version took only 210g of yarn while this one took a mere 182g of yarn. I think the yarn requirements are rather overstated but, of course, YMMV.

• I cannot believe how fussy it was to make this given that I had to pull out guard hairs and pokey linen to attain the texture and feel that appeals. I can’t bring myself to use this yarn again given that pulling out the hairs, continually, likely increased the span of time required to knit by 30% but I would (in a second) if it came “dehaired”. I had to use tweezers because it was too hard on my fingers to keep pulling by hand. I used this yarn a second time cuz M wanted the garment in it, but that’s it.

• Once again, I’m not thrilled that the purl rounds on the BOR side body jog (because this is a tube). I wonder if you can work jogless stripes without the colour striping, but with stitch textured patterns (in instances when a moving BOR is problematic because there’s a stitch pattern on part or all of the garment), by slipping the first stitch or knitting down into the previous one. I might give that a try if I make this again as the offset nature of the last and first stitches (in purl bumps) really doesn’t appeal to me. I mean, no one notices when the garment is being worn (it’s less observable than a colour change) but it’s not invisible.

Pre-blocked Measurements:

Armscye depth: 6”
Shoulder width (not incl cap sleeve): 3.75”
Length - Underarm to hem (at centre body / longest): 12”
Length - Underarm to side hem (shortest): 10.5”
Bust Circ: 32” but note that lace is not blocked.
Hip Circ: 32”
Length - Back neck to centre front: 19”
Neck Opening (flat from edge to edge): 8”
Length of lace panel: 13.5”
Width of cap sleeve at thickest point: 1.5”