Gauge on US8:

Pre-blocking: 21st x 28R in 4”
Post-blocking:19st x 29R in 4”

To make a modified size small (with depth of medium)

• Cast on size small (96 st) - first 2 rounds US5, 3rd and 4th rounds US7 and then move to US8 on round 5. (Only used the US5 and US7 for the first 2 rounds. Everything else is done on US8.)

• Work to 256 st - 51 rounds

• Work 11 rounds more, without increasing, to get to the size M depth (which is 9.5”)

• Do short rows by knitting from BOR marker (which delineates the back left, according to instructions) for 88 st - somehow this left me with 8 st on one side and 10 st on the other. If I make this again, I need to figure out what went awry. To fix it this time I spent too long moving markers around in ways I cannot possibly remember aft the fact. Sigh.

• Note: 256st - (46st x 2, sleeves) = 164st + (12st x 2, under arm body) = 188st (same as for the previous version) but this time I have 46 st for each arm to see if the M arm is better fitting than the small was. The small was just slightly too snug IMO, at least in the other fabric.

• Split for Sleeves: This time I opted to put 46 st on the holder instead of 42 and, to ensure I’ll have the same number of st on the body as for the last version (esp given that my stitch gauge is 6% smaller this time than last time), I increased 12 st instead of 8 on the body. That leaves me with 188 st on the body and 46st on hold for each sleeve. The one thing that’s really irritating is that I’m 2 st off in terms of the positioning of the BOR and the half-way marker (m2). So I’m going to have to fudge that.

• Knitting the Body: K 8 rounds straight to get to the under bust exactly. (I started with 10R but ripped back 2 because I felt that was too long.)

• Work the single centred decrease round - on front body, K to M2, sl M2, K 23 st, work 16 single centred decreases, K23 to BOR marker. (Total stitches 172 - 78st Front / 94st Back). See my previous version of this garment for info on this mod.

• Work 5R plain.

• Back decrease round 1 (of 3) - on back body - K1, k2tog, k to 3 st bef M2, ssk, k1, slM2, K to end of round. (2 st dec)

• Work 5R plain.

• Back decrease round 2 (of 3) - on back body - K1, k2tog, k to 3 st bef M2, ssk, k1, slM2, K to end of round. (2 st dec)

• Work 5R plain.

• Back decrease round 3 (of 3) - on back body - K1, k2tog, k to 3 st bef M2, ssk, k1, slM2, K to end of round. (2 st dec) (Total - 166st on body - 78st Front and 88st Back - that’s 35” in cirumference at the underbust and as large as I would like the circ to be…)

• Work plain till desired length (check at 12” below sleeve split - or approx 59R after the back side decreases). Consider doing 2x1 rib at the hem - that would mean you have to remove 1st to get to 165st. If you do 1x1 rib you can stick with 166st. If you want to do 2x2 rib you’ll need 164st. Do whatever it is you will opt to do on the sleeves.

• I’ve decided I won’t do the tubular bind off because I want something firmer and I don’t want to substantively increase the number of stitches before the ribbing if the tubular BO doesn’t work nicely (and it didn’t when I made this the first time, admittedly in mohair). Ended up doing the Icelandic BO - which is analogous to the German Twisted CO. (The Hiya Hiya Grandma one looked bad with this yarn / fabric.)

• Work Sleeves: Note that I’ve opted to make these longer than the 3/4 length instructed, though I’ll knit the fitted sleeve shape. I’ll aim to do 5” - 6” of 2x2 ribbing at the cuff so that sleeves are full length. At this gauge, I don’t imagine that the sweater will be overly warm, as made in this rather airy yarn, worsted spun but woolen prepped, at a loose gauge. So long sleeves will make things warmer. Also - as it happens - this yarn is much stretchier than the yarns I used to make this sweater previously, so knitting size small sleeves would have been the better choice this time around. Live and learn. To mitigate, I’ll decrease to 50 stitches in the first 6 rounds and do faster increases than I would have otherwise, see below.

• Using 32” cable / magic loop, start by picking up 6 st at mid underarm, K 46st formerly on waste yarn, pick up 6st at underarm (58st) - note it doesn’t matter how many you pick up as long as, next row, you get down to 54 st by decreasing with ssks and k2togs. (54st) Set up takes 2 rounds

• K to 12.25” below this depth to get to full length sleeves - do all decreases within the first 6.5” or else you’ll need to do a decrease round in the K2/P2 ribbing.

• K1 round BUT - at end - k to 3 st before marker, ssk, k1

• Next (on new round) k1, k2tog, K to end of round (52 st)

• K1 round (5 rounds into the ~82 rounds total which will include 5” of 2x2 rib)

• K1 round BUT - at end - k to 3 st before marker, ssk, k1

• Next (on new round) k1, k2tog, K to end of round (50 st)

• K2 rounds

• K1 round but 3 st from end k to 3 st before marker, ssk, k1

• K1, k2tog, K to end of round (48st) (10 rounds of sleeve worked at this point - when I tried it on, it’s still to big in the sleeve so I’m going to start doing decreases more frequently…)

• K2 rounds. At the end of the 2nd round, do the ssk decrease

• Next round - K1, k2tog knit to end of round (46st)

• K2 rounds. At the end of the 2nd round, do the ssk decrease

• Next round - K1, k2tog knit to end of round (44st - at this point you’ve worked 17 rounds)

• K2 rounds. At the end of the 2nd round, do the ssk decrease

• Next round - K1, k2tog knit to end of round (42st)

• K3 rounds. At the end of the 3rd round, do the ssk decrease

• Next round - K1, k2tog knit to end of round (40st, at this point you’ve knitted 24 rounds.)

• K3 rounds. At the end of the 3rd round, do the ssk decrease

• Next round - K1, k2tog knit to end of round (38st, at this point you’ve worked 28 rounds)

• K 27R even - on the last of these rounds INCREASE by K to last 2 st, M1L, K1

• Next round - INCREASE by K 1, M1R, K to end of round (40 st)

• K ? rounds in 2x2 rib, starting with K2, BO using Icelandic bind off.

Yarn weight of sleeves: 18g per sleeve

So I ripped back my first sleeve (the left) because it wasn’t right in the upper arm. This would have been done in record time otherwise. Note that, when you recast it on, you need to put more of the cast on stitches on the front body (to the left of the marker where the blue marker is.

Measurements - Pre-blocking

Yoke depth: 10” (but really hard to tell)
Width at back neck: 7”
Length from back neck to hem: 23.25”
Length from underarm to cuff: 14-15” (sleeve blocked with orange marker is shorter so lengthen…
Upper arm circ: 9.5 - 10” (right slightly smaller due to decrease rate)
Lower arm circ: 6”
Underbust circ: 37”
Hem circ: 34”
Length from back neck to underbust decreases: 12.25”
Length from underbust decreases to hem: 10.75”

Measurements - Post-blocking

Yoke depth: 10” (but really hard to tell)
Width at back neck: 7”
Length from back neck to hem: 24”
Length from underarm to cuff: 14”
Upper arm circ: 9.5 - 10” (right slightly smaller due to decrease rate)
Lower arm circ: 6”
Underbust circ: 35”
Hem circ: 35”
Length from back neck to underbust decreases: 12.25”
Length from underbust decreases to hem: 11.75”