I started knitting this sweater with a US7 (having made a robust swatch - more info below) and somehow (Lord knows how), my gauge changed rather dramatically in a way that hasn’t happened before.

To determine how to proceed, I ripped back the upper back of the sweater, made using US7 (aligned with my original gauge), re-cast on with US6 (recommended needle size) and then I blocked the upper back of the sweater, as a second swatch, to determine what my new gauge was.

My current gauge on a US 6 (and the one I’m using to knit this sweater) is:

Pre-blocked gauge US6: 20st and 30R in 4”
Post-blocked gauge US6: 20 st and 32R in 4”

Because I’m making the smallest size (I’m not into serious positive ease and I’m a person with a narrow frame), I’m glad that my stitch gauge is slightly larger than recommended. I LOVE the drape of the yarn at this gauge. But accurate row gauge is important given the construction and I’m still not entirely confident about how it’s going to land.

Back Collar: Since my stitch gauge is slightly bigger than instructed (impacting the horizontal length of the back neck) AND my row gauge is slightly smaller (impacting the vertical length of the back collar - which is knitted in vertical rows) - I’ve decided to measure to ensure that the blocked ribbed collar will be no more than 20% smaller than the length of the upper back neck (the recommended negative ease when sewing knit collars into necklines). I do realize (as per the instructions) that the collar should be shorter than the span of the upper back / back neck - but mine might be too short given that my row gauge will shrink by 7%. On checking the length of the ribbed collar (minus the 7%), I get to 6” (post-block length). The back neck (already blocked) is 7.5” wide. 20% of 7.5” is 1.5” so the length of the ribbed collar (without adding any additional rows on the right collar piece) should work. Update: It worked perfectly.

Left Front: I got to the proposed number of st for my size (57) and at first I thought the neckline might be too low/deep (so I worked 2 fewer rows than instructed). Then, when I had the right front done too, and tried on the upper bodice, it seemed that the v would be too high/shallow. So I actually increased both side fronts by 2 extra rows (having added back in the 2 rows I left out and also adding 2 more) before joining both fronts at the base of the v. I still think it’s a bit high, but perhaps blocking will relax everything. Also, it’s pretty tricky to see how this is going to fit without the weight of the rest of the sweater contributing to its fit and drape.

Joining Back to Front: The back piece should be 1” shorter than the front piece when you join the 2 pieces to begin working in the round (below the arm opening). Given that my row gauge will shrink by 7% I’m going with 10.75” on the front and 9.75” on the back.

Seaming the Collar: The video provided is helpful but keep in mind that you’ve got a diff ratio of “v”s on the upper back than bars on the ribbed collar so you will need to go through every v (to maintain the integrity of the upper back piece) but sometimes you’ll need to go through 2 bars on the collar. Someone else also noted an important feature of this seaming - start at the centre back and work outwards to the edges (the shoulder seam). Otherwise, the fabric is likely to pucker or bias in one direction.

Knitting the Body: I’m aiming for a sweater that’s 22.5 - 23” from centre back neck to hem, my preferred length. Not sure what length this would be from the underarm - but I’m estimating 15” from where the underarm begins (at 8” in depth). My row gauge has changed again, now that I’m knitting in the round, and appears to be 7R per inch, not 8. (Stitch gauge appears to be stable at 5st per inch.) So I’ll take this into account when getting to the final depth. I’ll likely also want to knit an extra inch (and maybe block before binding off) to ensure that the length is where I want it to be. I also intend to work ribbing on a US4 needle - 2 sizes smaller than the main needle. Note that the pattern schematic measures the body length from somewhere along the angled shoulder line - wherein it suggests that the length at my size would be 21”.

I’m going to knit at least 2” of rib and perhaps 3” so I’ll get that started when the body length is 20” from where the neck meets the collar. If it needs to be longer in the end, that’s fine. In the end I opted to knit the body ribbing to the same length as the cuff ribbing - 3” of 1x1 rib.

Technique to encourage ribbing to lie flat:Though I don’t normally encounter this, on this project the ribbing (even done on a smaller needle) seemed to puff a bit where the ribbing met the stockinette. It made me concerned that a) it would continue to look this way when blocked and b) that it might flip up, even though I’m knitting the ribbing quite deep. To ameliorate, I used the technique wherein, on the first row of ribbing, you slip the knit stitches (purlwise) and purl the purl stitches. This elongates the knit stitches and distributes the yarn more evenly between the knits and purls. On the second row and onwards, regular K1P1 is worked to the bind off. I’ve never done this before but I do think it made a difference and I would do it again, as necessary.

Sleeves: I opted to start knitting the sleeves right after joining the front and back (put the body on hold). I wanted to get a sense of how the sleeves would look at the cast on and what alterations might be required. Note that the “shoulder seam” (the initial diagonal upper back seam worked by short rows from which front body stitches are picked up) sits well behind the top of the shoulder - on the back body. This is clarified when stitches are picked up starting at the bottom of the underarm opening.

I had to cast on 84 st given the pre-blocked length of the front and back body. I believe I picked up 3 st for every 4 rows which, for me came to 84 st (the number associated with the 3rd size). This maintained the integrity of the design given that my gauge is slightly different than the pattern instructs and that I wanted a slightly deeper neckline but I didn’t want to keep working the neckline after joining fronts and back because then I’d have had to have kept on knitting flat (given that the v wouldn’t be joined even after the underarm was). It seemed more complicated than it was worth. In the first row after stitch pick up, I decreased to 82st (k1, k2tog, k to last 3 st, ssk, k) and then on the 3rd row after stitch pick up I decreased to 80 st. On the 5th round I decreased one more time to 78st (the number indicated for the first size). I wouldn’t want these sleeves any wider in circumference than this so I’m pleased with the alteration. Because the decreases happen in the first 5 rounds (high under the arm), they are not visible and the sleeve looks evenly fitted - or loose, as the case may be - all the way around from underarm to bind off.

My intent is to knit the length to 16” (but checking at 13”) from the sleeve cast on sleeve. (This is effectively 16” from the underarm as the drop shoulder design means that the upper sleeve cast on occurs at about 3” below my actual shoulder tip.) I want a full length or bracelet length sleeve but I intend to do a 2” 1x1 rib cuff to match the neck ribbing and the 1x1 ribbing for 3ish inches that I’ve worked on the hem of the body.

I’ve opted to work stockinette to ~15.5” and then to start ribbing for approx 3”. This is 116 rounds from cast on, worked straight, before starting ribbing. Note - my pre-blocked row gauge seems to be back to 7R per inch but that will shrink to 7.75R per inch. I’ve put markers every 29R. That means I’ll have an underarm marker and 4 additional markers followed by cuff decrease round (with change to US 4 needle). Followed by 3” of rib (24R on US4)… Remember to slip the first knit stitches in the round when you start the K1, P1.

Cuff decreases: To get to my desired decrease number (36st / ~6”-6.5” circumference): (K2tog x5, k3tog) x6.

Pre-blocked Dimensions: RIdiculously, I forgot to take these before wet blocking?!?!? Oh well…

Post-blocked Dimensions:
Armcyce depth at arm cast on: 7”
Total length from back upper back where it meets the collar: 23.5”
Depth of v neck from upper back below the collar to the tip of v: 8.5”
Length of body from under arm: 15”
Sleeve circumference: 13.5”
Sleeve Length starting at sleeve cast on: 19” (3”of which is cuff)
Cuff circumference: 4.5”
Bust circumference: 40”
Hip circumference: 35”
Width from neck (where it meets collar) to sleeve cast on: 7.5”

Final Thoughts:

• The only change I made to this pattern was to knit 3” of 1x1 ribbing at cuff and body hem. The result on the sleeves (which I knitted to 19”) is that there’s a bishop / puff sleeve effect given the wide circumference to cuff, knit long, plus cuff.
• I opted to block this before binding off on the body hem because I didn’t know how it would bloom and I wanted the opp to go longer or shorter without needing to rip out the bind off. In the end, the length was perfect without adding or subtracting any rounds. The bind off in pattern took about 6g of yarn - which is more than I thought it would…
• This garment is very big / heavy by my standards. The yarn feels more like worsted than sport - and IMO, DK always feels like one or the other… I tend to aim for 250g for a sweater and this one weighs in at over 400g. Were I to make this again, I’d use a lighter-weight yarn (sport-weight, likely). Mind you, it’ll be tremendously warm knitted up at this weight, in this yarn. Obvs, the cashmere called for is much lighter in weight (if not in grist) than the Moordale that I used.
• While the yarn is very beautiful, it’s both extremely soft AND on the prickly side (given that the alpaca has guard hairs). I did wear the swatch around my neck while knitting this garment (which is loose-fitting and not tight at the neck) and I think it will be fine. Unlikely I’ll knit with this yarn for myself again given the prickle. It’s too bad cuz the yarn is really gorgeous.
• There’s a lot of ease built into the design. If you are a small person, I recommend going with a smaller size (one with less positive ease). My version has 2-3” of positive ease at the bust and that’s as much as I’d want given the weight of the yarn. I did make it longer than designed - and I made blouson sleeves that took more yarn. I estimate that I would have used 125y less yarn if I’d followed the pattern as written in size 1 and I still used 154 yards less yarn than was called for. But if I’d made this in the recommended size with 7” of positive ease, not only would the tube of the torso been too big, the drop shoulder would have been at my elbow.
• I had Miranda in mind when I was making this sweater, cuz this really is her style. I’ve decided to gift it to her as her bday present.

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Original Swatch:
Pre-blocked Gauge US 6: 21.5st and 31R in 4”
Post-blocked Gauge US 6: 20st and 32R in 4”

Pre-blocked Gauge US 7: 20.5 st and 27R in 4”
Post-blocked Gauge US7: 19.5st and 29R in 4”

Other Sweaters I considered making with this yarn:

Creeping Fig Boxy Pullover (Beth MacDonald)
Kore (Natassja Hornby)

Fairy Bouquet (J Ang) - too conservative
Joel (R Moessmer) - similar to other RTW knits I own
Glitter (M Storey) - got mediocre reviews on the pattern so re-review it before committing…
Cedarwood (A Plummer) - not feeling this in the collar…
Consider Skylark (Martin Storey) - got too many bad reviews and sizing seems to be wonky according to what commenters have indicated.
Ewgene Cardigan (Fabel) - there may be more alteration than I’m interested to do, esp since the cardi is fully cabled. Also it’s bottom up.