01-06-2021

So, I’ve decided to make the first size, inc to size 2 at full bust (same way I approached the Eva Cardi). My rationale: I find the horiz pattern dimensions for the first size slightly larger than what I require - my shoulders are narrower than 4”, my back is very narrow and I had to size down in arms with the Eva (below the first size measurement). It’s a bit of a risk but we’ll give it a go and see if the sizing works.

At my gauge, I can estimate the following dimensions - which work fine for me:

Shoulder width: 3.9”
Neck width: 4.2” - 4.4”
Sleeve circumference: Can be modified by picking up a couple of extra stitches under the arm otherwise the dimensions would be a snug 11.4” - with shirt on, upper arm circ is 10.75” so doable but add 4 stitches on either side for extra arm circ
Sleeve length: Knit till 17” from shoulder top to cuff (between below elbow and 3/4 length sleeves).
Armscye depth: Working 2 extra rows on the body if the XS depth is less than 7” in length at 34R. At my gauge I’ll need to knit 3.5% longer (that comes to about 2 rows).
Bust cirumference: Use the worksheet to add 4.5” (24 st at 5.25st per inch gauge) to the circ at full bust via yoke and potential underarm increases
Body: Probably will not make the points or at a min, I’ll do less point. Will make it longer potentially. Will NOT revert to size 1 after bust because my st gauge is smaller than recommended and the 5% of fabric I’ll not have, given my gauge, will need to be made up in the torso, given my dimensions. I’ll do bust darts (see more details below).

01-06-2021

Initial Thoughts:

• One thing I highly recommend when working in this method - be sure you have a full set of interchangeable needles because you will be switching from needle to needle throughout the project, in places you can’t imagine, and particularly in the phase before you set up the yoke. If I didn’t have interchangeables, I’d be going nuts because one often needs to use needles of the same or different size in new places. It’s distracting to have to keep putting stitches onto waste yarn every 5 seconds. With interchangeables, you can leave the stitches on the cable and use the tips with other cables elsewhere.
• This is my second Cocoknits sweater in as many weeks and, while I’m totally addicted, this shit is FUSSY until you begin the yoke. And I love fussy. Almost as much as I love worksheets! So it’s perfect for me but this method is so deceptive. It looks very easy. It’s not. It’s clear, it’s straight-forward, it’s ingenious from a fit perspective and it’s so easily modifiable BUT if you aren’t an experienced / competent knitter, it’s only going to get trickier till it gets easy. Mind you, if you’ve been knitting for a while and you’ve made lots of sweaters / know all of the techniques being applied in a modified way in this method, then it’s a great way to explore your skill newly.
• Collar Construction and Cardigan Edging: It took me forever to figure out the collar and edging construction (I do think it would be helpful for the pattern to clarify this better or at least that there should be some marketing photos that clearly show what’s going on. I made the Eva, having the same collar construction before making this cardi, but that version was clearer because the back neck is ribbed and there was no question of fold over in that case, as is apparent in every photo.)
• The Lizzie collar, like the Eva, is attached to the back centre neck (from inner shoulder to inner shoulder). Effectively you seam up the hole created after you knit the shoulder section. It’s as simple as mattress stitching the horizontal (collar) stitches to the (back body) vertical stitches and clearly explained in many tutorials, Cocoknits and other).
• What confused me is that I didn’t know if the collar was supposed to fold over itself / in half, long-wise. so that the outside edge (the neat edge with slipped stitches) would be thereafter attached at the inside of the sweater at the same portion of the centre back neck), effectively creating 2 layers of fabric and halving the depth of the 13st neck band. Moreover, it was unclear to me how this would impact the overall front body edging. To clarify, you do NOT fold over the collar.
• The edging of the overall sweater begins when you create the back collar tabs by slipping the last stitch on each row followed by either 2 purls (on RS) or 2 knits (on WS) in accordance with the pattern instructions. This produces a sort of flattened edge the likes of which you’d get from icord, inasmuch as it’s designed to prevent curling of the fabric. Mind you, I imagine the fabric will curl to some extent, depending on its nature, even when blocked (not my fave outcome so I hope I’m wrong in this case). If I make this again, I may opt to do actual 3-st icord edging which, I imagine, would do the trick better than the technique being applied here… Of course, the design is intentional as many people do like stockinette that rolls.

02-06-2021

Edging: RS: Sl1 wyif, P2, K to last 3 st, p to end of row
WS: Sl1 wyib, K2, P to last 3 st, k to end of row

Yoke: I worked 36 rows because I wanted to make my armscye a bit longer (to mitigate my slightly shorter row gauge than that instructed). In the last row I increased 2 side front stitches as well as 2 front stitches (as pattern indicates to do on every 4th RS row)

Post sleeve-split stitch counts:

Front to underarm - 61 st
Back - 98 st
Front to underarm - 61 st
Total: 220 st full circumference

Sleeve stitches on hold - 50 st each

Total body stitches (excluding sleeves) - 220st which, at my gauge is 42” of circumference. Note to self: Figure out how much the waist decreases will impact circumference and where I should put them… Update: I opted to start them after the short rows, when the length was just at my under bust.

Not sure how many more times I want to increase every 4th RS row to make the points, esp given that I’m going to do bust darts at my full bust (to inc length of front body by about an inch). Update: I opted to stop the increases on the first “row” of the bust short-rows.

Bust Darts:

Aim to start bust darts at apex of full bust which will be at about 2.75” below sleeve split row (but reconfirm when trying on the garment).

I want a dart that is about 5” inches in length, from the side seam toward the full bust. And I want it to be about 1” deep. Horizontal gauge will determine the number of stitches that make up the length of the dart and the number of turns will dictate the increased depth that’s added in by the dart wedge.

In this instance, ~ 5” of span from side body to dart “point” equates to 26 st (at a horiz gauge of 5.25 st per inch). To do 1” of depth (~8 rows at my gauge, given that I need an even number of rows), I’ll do 4 two-part/ RS/WS short rows (or 4 back and forths on each side). Position the markers (turn points) at side seam, 8 st, 16 st, 24 st. For left-side darts I worked on the RS (creating and picking up wraps on the RS). For the right-side darts I worked on the WS (creating and picking up wraps on the WS).

I’ve decided to knit, to 2.75” in pattern (including every 4th RS row 2 st inc at fronts) because that gets me to my full bust. (I’ll continue to note this within the worksheet cuz it goes up to 56 rows - which is helpfully exactly 2.75” below my underarm/at full bust.)

At that point I’ll do the short rows. After short rows, I’ll determine whether it’s time to stop knitting the extra stitch every 4 rows at front… Note - I didn’t do any front increases during the short row section. I worked the last 2 stitch increase on Row 1 of the short rows at which point I was at my max desired circumference.

I worked German Short Rows (GSRs). I don’t know why anyone designs with any other type. They are utterly invisible all the time (in my experience to date), on every fabric. Shadow wrap short rows, while better than Japanese or W&T, don’t work as well IMO (and they’re just slightly fussier. GSRs are so easy…)

At 3” from underarm split, the point where I have 66 st on each front, I’ve got 43.75” of circumference. That’s almost 5” of positive ease over my full bust. I’m going to stop doing increases at this point. The pattern instructs that these increases should continue for 10”, the suggested length of the cardi, but that’s going to make for very wide points that may not hang as I would prefer (they’re wide, not the kind that drop vertically). I did an inch of short rowing, to accommodate bust, but not to change the angle/hang of the points…

Waist Decreases: Instructions are to decrease 4 stitches, 3 times (12 st total circ or 2.25”) over 12 rows (on first decrease row, then 2x more every 6th row, or 1.6” of depth total given that decreases sandwich those 12R). At 6” from under bust (another 3” or 22 rows or so having finished the short row section), that’s when you’ll start the waist decreases but try this on in 16 rows after short rows end to confirm you’re on track…

For decreases: At 3 st before side seam marker 1, SSK, k1, slm m1, k1, k2tog, slm2, k1, ssk, k to 3 st bef marker 1, k2tog, k1

At point when side decreases are complete, the body should be ~7.5” from underarm. You’ll need 2.5” or 18 more rows before you get to 10”, suggested length.

16-07-2021

The part of my vacation when I realize I’ve forgotten the book in which this pattern lives and that there’s no electronic version: Lord - this is SO BEYOND irritating, esp given how I tried to be flawlessly organized. But also irritating cuz I can’t just spend 10-12 bucks CDN to repurchase it for instant use away from home (I do already own the book) given that the pattern is book-only. So, I’m going to do my best to get as far as possible based on my memory of the pattern (and previous notes I’ve written above).

The reason I’ve sworn off tonal and variegated yarn forever (even if it is beautiful in the skein): At the end of the yoke plus 3”, I finally opted to start alternating skeins because it became very apparent, on switching balls, that this tonal yarn is quite different from one batch to the next (though it in no way seems that way in the skeins). I wish I’d observed this before I knit the entire yoke and split for the sleeves, but there you go…

I put this sweater down for more than a month to decide whether I wanted to rip out the whole thing (and maybe start with another, non-tonal/non-variegated yarn) but I really don’t have the appetite to waste that time, esp given that each skein of the yarn is lovely, the sweater is working very well from every other perspective and I’d still need to figure out how to knit with this yarn if I unknit it and put it back in the stash.

But I couldn’t bring myself to continue to knit with just one skein in play, given that the differentiation is noticeable. So as of 4” below the sleeve split, I started alternating.

How I Alternated: For the first few rows, I opted to make the transition on the last st of the WS, dropping the working yarn and picking up the new yarn for the WS last stitch and then continuing to use new yarn as it goes to RS, twisting the old yarn over the new (as per usual). However, given the edging stitch, that really doesn’t work intuitively. It’s easier to actually make the transition from RS as it goes to WS.

Thing is, these colours are so “not” tonal that it almost looks like I striped the yarn unevenly. The age-old issue with tonal yarn is that, much of the time, altering skeins simply gives you a different sort of colour-pooling than you’d have got if you’d not bothered Though I do think that at least the tones are better integrated over all, when alternating. I’m hoping that I’m going to get a fade like impact (which is largely the case) but there were 3 inches below the arm split knit all in one colour that is warmer than the others - and that is a pretty noticeable band to me. Others I’ve shown it to, don’t seem to see it but then they’re not fussy knitters! If I can’t stand it in the end, I’ll give this away but I can tell the fit is going to be very good so I’m disinclined!

Post Decrease Stitch Counts:

Front to underarm - 63st (60 in body, 3 in edging)
Back - 92 st
Front to underarm - 63 st (60 in body, 3 in edging)
Total: 218 st circumference of body

So this final stitch count (as I’m just knitting straight till the bind off) is very similar to that at the upper bust (at the point that I split for the sleeves). Because I stopped doing the front increases at the beginning of the short row section I managed to add length without extra width.

19-07-2021

I knitted 15 rows after the 3rd side decrease row. After that I bound off with a 3-stitch icord, as recommended by some others. Update: And then, a week later, I ripped back the icord bind off and knitted another 14 rows, then bound off again.

Preblocked Length - underarm to hem: 13.5”

Sleeves: I want to make the sleeves 11.4” at full circumference and ~15.5” in length from the shoulder seam - i.e. 10.5” from where you start re-knitting the sleeves. Update: I decided I wanted more length (for winter wear) and to use up this yarn. Went to 17” from shoulder seam to hem and did 20 rounds of ribbing (about 2.5” with bind off, given that I knit rib on the US6.)

• The starting circumference should be the 50 st already on the needles plus 16 more stitches cast on with long tail CO (8 on each side of the underarm BOR marker).
• Over the next 3-6 rounds, decrease 2st on either side of BOR marker - SSK, k1, slm, k1, k2tog. At this point you’ll have 64st (as per the instructions for XS). Then follow the instructions for the first size
• In an irony - given how laisser faire I was about alternating initially - simultaneously, I’ll helical knit to alternate 3 skeins of yarn. Note - I didn’t add the third skein until round 9 (it was too much to manage the initial decreases and 3 balls of yarn…

R1 K 66st
2 K1, k2tog, k to last 3 st, ssk, k1 (64st)
3 K
4 K1, k2tog, k to last 3 st, ssk, k1 (62st)
5 K
6 K1, k2tog, k to last 3 st, ssk, k1 - now at 60 st (which pattern calls for)
7 K
8 K1, k2tog, k to last 3 st, ssk, k1 (58st)
9-15 K
16 K1, ssk, k to last 3 st, k2tog, k1 (56st)
17-23 K
24 K1, ssk, k to last 3 st, k2tog, k1 (54st)
25-31 K
32 K1, ssk, k to last 3 st, k2tog, k1 (52st)
33-39 K
40 K1, ssk, k to last 3 st, k2tog, k1 (50st)
41 - 84K
R 85 Start 1x1 ribbing for the next 20R. BO using stretchy bind off (see Espace Tricot version). The tubular bind off in the round, which I tried 3 times, just wasn’t looking good (even though I’ve had very good results when doing tubular BO flat).

Preblocked Sweater Measurements:

Underarm to hem: 13.5”
Sleeve circumference: 10.25”
Shoulder width: 4”
Collar height: 2”
Bust circumference: 44” ? It’s hard to tell due to curling plus overlap
Hem circumference: 43”
Shoulder tip to cuff: 17”
Underarm to cuff: 12”
Back neck (not including collar) to hem: 21”

Post-blocked Sweater Measurements:

Underarm to hem: 14.5”
Sleeve circumference: 10.25”
Shoulder width: 4”
Collar height: 2”
Bust circumference: 44”
Hem circumference: 44”
Shoulder tip to cuff: 20”
Underarm to cuff: 12.5”
Back neck (not including collar) to hem: 20” (on back body which is shorter by design / and also given that I did bust darts on the front), 21” on front.

31-07-2021

Final Thoughts:

• This is easier to block than I’d imagine, though - between alternating skeins and the cocoknits method, I had a good share of ends to weave in… To do whatever I could to mitigate curling of the hem or edges of the cardigan, I soaked my (rather springy) yarn for about 40 minutes, rolled it in a towel and pinned it on a mat. I pinned the icord hem and the edges, unfolding the collar, to flatten these areas so they won’t roll once dry (something I really don’t like).
• I do think that the colour pooling/striping (the result of my not having alternated skeins until 3” below the bust) looks adequately like a fade when not scrutinized, though were I to do it again, I’d have started alternating at the point at which I split for the sleeves. And really, were I to do it again, I’d use yarn that isn’t tonal or variegated so I wouldn’t have to worry about it.
• In retrospect, I might have decreased the sleeves more slowly because they are on the snug side with a shirt underneath, but I’m pretty sure this yarn is going to stretch, just given the amount of recovery it has. So I might decide, later, that the xs sleeves were made in the optimal size.
• I ended up giving this away because I couldn’t stand the differences in the yarn AND I hate rolling stockinette. Note - there is no way the stockinette isn’t going to roll (unless you do a different edging than instructed).