Initial Impressions:

• This is a gorgeously chic design but an underwhelming pattern. (And truly, the pattern could be easily improved.)

• Pattern issues include: Lack of clarity in the segment where the Body begins. As others have mentioned, the BOR marker is at the back body where it meets the left shoulder, which is necessary to understand. / No schematic (which puts me off immediately). / No short rows included - some Rav pages have confirmed the need for them. See below for instructions on how I’ll include them in my version.

• I also believe that the drafting on the collar is odd. Many unaltered versions of the collar seem much taller than the one shown on the model in the marketing photos - and too wide to retain shape. See below for my modifications based on SDWinDC’s detailed notes.

The Knitting:

• Size: My intent is to make the body in the second size for bust circumference (having a gauge that’s slightly looser than instructed). But the collar looks too large and I don’t want something floppy. I’m also concerned that this garment is very wide at the neck where the body starts, which is where I am at my narrowest.

• Though I didn’t have any specific increase plan, at first I thought I’d start w xs collar and inc 12 st on the last round of the collar (168 + 12 = 180st). That’s one inc every 14 st. Then, after working the collar CO once, I felt that 168st still seemed excessively big to start with so I decided I’d like to start with 156 and then go up to 168 (and make the XS with some adjustments to make it big enough at the bust) just before the start of the body. But that was going to require some thinking and math.

• Then I read through SDWinDC’s notes: https://www.ravelry.com/projects/SDWinDC/tuileries-pullover. As others have had success with her method of CO with 148st and moving to 180st, before moving to the Body section for size 2, I’m going to give this a try. Note that this CO will bring you to 180st (the point at which the body begins for Size 2 - Small). If you want to do the XS, then CO 12 fewer stitches (136 vs 148).

How I Worked the Sweater from CO:

• I CO 148st (Italian CO). See set up below.

• How I worked the Italian CO: I worked a crochet provisional CO wrapping the yarn around the knitting needle as I crochet (see Saturday Shrug instructions if you need a refresher). The number of stitches CO is half of the total stitches required plus 1. So in this instance I CO 75st.

• R1 is the set up row (worked flat) and I knitted into the first stitch followed by a yarn over. Repeated this to last stitch, which is a knit stitch.

• R2 is the first row (worked flat). I slipped as if to purl the first stitch (which looks like a purl) and knitted into all of the yarn overs. Last st is slipped purlwise.

• R3 is the second row (worked flat). I knitted the first stitch and slip the second stitch purlwise and repeated this until the LAST st which was a knit. Now I joined in the round by knitting the last st together with the first stitch of the round and began Row 4. While working this row, to make things easier, I put a marker after the 74th st (a purl) AND delineated the RS with a marker so that I wouldn’t get confused if stitches started spinning around.

• Row 4 is R1 of working in the round. On this round, I knit all knit stitches “normally” (not through the back loop). At the end of this round, it appears that there are 2 rounds on the needles. You can remove the waste yarn but it’s easier to work if you wait a few more rounds before doing this.

• Next round appears to be Round 3 (as one row was CO set up). On this round, start working the knit stitches through the back loop per instructions. Note that I worked the next 2R on the smaller needles and then switched to the US4.

About how I increased 32st to get to 180st by the time I started the Body:

• For starters, I think an 8” funnel neck would be exceedingly tall based on my proportions and, even though my yarn is very light-weight, I don’t want it to flop - as it would appear this collar is inclined to do. I’ve decided to work 4” - 5”. This might be too short but I’m going to have to start with something and this seems reasonable.

• As such, given that I want 180st by 4.5” of depth / ~40R at my gauge (an increase of 32st), I opted to work 4, 8st increase rounds a) after ~2” b) then again after ~0.8” c) then again after ~0.8” and d) after ~0.8”.

• One of the things to note about SDWinDC’s notes is that you work the incs around a purl stitch each time and given the stitch counts (including those as the increases are made) this does not enable totally even distribution. 2 of the 4 segments will have 2 more stitches (between the increase purls) than the other 2, throughout this increase section. When starting, my increase purls were st 2, st 38, st 76 and st 112 (evenly distributed over the 148st casted on). Between 1st and 2nd inc purl there were 35st, between 2nd and 3rd there were 37st, between 3rd and 4th there were 35st and between 4th and 1st inc purl there were 37st. These numbers increase by 2 in each segment, with every increase round.

• Note that my pre-blocked gauge in the twisted rib is as instructed (8.5R per inch) BUT my gauge swatch has told me that this will shrink by 6%, bringing it to 9R per inch. I’m keeping this in mind so that I don’t go too short. I also wonder if shortening the collar will a) pull up the armscye and b)make the collar lie flat on the upper bust, kind of like a circular yoke. Time will tell.

R 1-17 (including the Italian cast on rounds), Ktbl, P1 for the entire round. Note that my round starts on a Ktbl not purl st… (~2” depth)

R18 - Inc Round - Work to purl st 2. M1RP, Ktbl the purl st, M1LP. Work to purl st 38 and repeat incs. Work to purl st 76 and repeat incs. Work to purl st 112 and repeat incs. Note that these purl st are marked with markers and the increase purls do move (to the left) with each increase but you can follow the purl column branch down to the cast on edge.

R19-25 Ktbl, P1 (~0.8” depth)

R26 - Inc Round Work to purl st . M1RP, Ktbl the purl st, M1LP. Work to purl st 38 and repeat incs. Work to purl st 76 and repeat incs. Work to purl st 112 and repeat incs. Note that these st are marked with markers. (156 st)(164st)

R27-33 - Ktbl, P1 (~0.8” depth)

R34 - Inc Round (172st)

R35-41 - Ktbl, P1 (~0.8”)

R42 - Inc Round (180 st)

• Should be at ~4.5” collar depth at this point. I’m actually at 5” but, as per my gauge swatch, this should shrink to 4.5” on blocking.

Adding Short Rows: I think a minimum inclusion in a paid-for sweater pattern is short rows. This pattern does not include them so I will have to figure this out for myself. Per ruthelia’s helpful notes, I’m going to start to work German short rows on R3 of the Body. It’s really the best place to work these short rows because there are no increases on this row so it’s pretty straight forward.

Round 1 Body: Increase round

Round 2: Plain (except for the first time you do this round, when the instructions are completely unclear. See Hobbesmom notes for clarification on this round.

Round 3: Short row round - SW1 (RS) - I knit to M1 (at join of back body and right sleeve (not that you can really think of the sleeves as sleeves at this point). Work 21st in twisted rib per pattern. Turn work

SW2 (WS) - DS, ptbl/k1 (twisted rib on wrong side) to the marker, slm, purl to BOR marker, work twisted rib on wrong side for 21st. Turn work.

SW3 (RS) - Repeat SW1, pick up the DS when you get to it and work 2 st after picking up the DS. Turn work.

SW4 (WS) - Repeat SW2, pick up the DS when you get to it and work 2 st after picking up the DS. Turn work.

SW5 (RS) - Repeat SW3
SW6 (WS) - Repeat SW4
SW7 (RS) - Repeat SW3
SW8 (WS) - Repeat SW4. When you turn the work, after working 2st further than the last DS, you’ll be on the RS. Now complete this RS row (which is still Round 3)

• Continue according to pattern.

• About the Yoke Depth: A number of project pages indicate that the yoke/armscye is too long, as instructed. Note that, on trying on the garment while in process, it would appear that the depth of the yoke for size S (which I’m knitting) is ~7.5” (my preferred depth) when knitted according to pattern, because my row gauge is off / shorter than instructed. This isn’t like a raglan design, wherein you can measure the depth along the raglan line to understand how deep the armscye will be. Because of the way the funnel neck moves into the increase segment of the yoke, some of that funnel contributes to the depth of the yoke/armscye. Keep in mind that the weight of the finished garment will also contribute to the yoke growing.

• About Waist-Shaping: It’s likely that, at the point at which I reach the under bust, I will decrease stitches to shape the waist. It’s hard to tell how many inches this will be but, for me, it’s usually ~3”-4” below the full bust and, at split for sleeves I’m about an inch above the full bust. So I’ll remeasure after working 3” below the split for sleeves to determine when to begin decreases.

• At ~4” below split for sleeves (which is also 9” from the front body where the stockinette segment begins), I started to decrease 28st over 7 decrease rounds (4st decreased per decrease round). At my gauge, this will decrease the circ by 5”. If I feel that this is too much shaping, I’ll work fewer decrease rounds.

• The way I’ve decided to decrease is on either side of the 11st ribbed, side body segments. I’m not going to decrease within the rib segment because I want to retain that design element and because it would require decreasing 8st per round to make it neat.

• As such, I’ll work till 2 st before the marker denoting the beginning of the ribbed segment, k2tog, work the ribbed segment and then ssk the first 2 st after the ribbed segment (Then I’ll repeat this one more time, on the other side body, for 4st dec per dec round). I’ll do this over a span of 6.5” (in the event that I do opt to start the hem ribbing at instructed depth of 15.5”). At my post-blocked row gauge, 6.5” of depth will take ~56R. So, if I have 7 dec rows (potentially), I’ll do a decrease every 9th round:

DecR - 220st
K8 R plain
DecR - 216st
K8 R plain
DecR - 212st
K8 R plain
DecR - 208st
K8R plain
Dec R - 204st
K8 R plain
Dec R - 200st
K8 R plain
Dec R - 196st - 55R knitted from startin decrease

• The pattern suggests that the length of the bodice be 15.5” measured from the start of the stockinette stitch to where one starts working the hem ribbing. Then, the ribbing is instructed to be ~1” deep. I’ll continue to check as I work but I anticipate I’ll want to lengthen the garment by 1 - 1.5” - if only to finish the yarn (and I’m not sure I’ll have enough yarn to do this at the moment).

• I could have done 2 more rows on the body ribbing but I didn’t want to undertake that degree of yarn chicken. As it is, I finished with 3g of yarn remaining… I worked only 2 rounds of set up (not the 4 suggested) for more of an Italian than tubular bind off. I worked the BO in US3 because I felt that going down to a US2 would be too sung, esp since I decreased 28 st to the XS size for the bodice, under the bust to the ribbed hem

• After finishing the sewn bind off, I proceeded to pick at it, allowing for a small amount of additional slack by taking some of the tail and pulling it back through the bind off. I wouldn’t recommend this technique for increasing circ, but it did work… In the future, I’d probably skip the final decrease that I made - leaving me with 200 st on the body vs 196st.

Sleeves:

• Be sure to pick up into the underarm stitches when casting on for the sleeves so that the twisted knitting isn’t misaligned under the armpit.

• I didn’t read the instructions so much as I skimmed them. I followed the decrease method but I casted on sleeves by picking up and knitting 4 stitches (from knit stitch at the centre of the side body segment), knitting in patter across all of the sleeve stitches, then picked up and knitted 3 at the end (after which I used a stitch marker to delineate the beginning of the round. Made sure that there were 44st on each needle (magic loop).

• I decreased against the centre column (so there weren’t 2 purl columns around the centre knit column at the underarm). Truly not sure if that was the directed approach. I just felt like doing it this way and I think that the outcome is consistent and tidy, though I generally don’t decrease in ribbing this way.

• The decrease method is interesting. I’m not actually certain if I’m doing the 3-dec L correctly but it works. I knitted to the 4th stitch before the end of round, then slipped the 4th st (whether knit or purl), knitted the next, passed the 4th stitch over the one just knitted (3rd from the end), then slipped the 2nd stitch to the right needle and passed the 3rd stitch over the 2nd. It maintained the k1tbl/p1 sequence.

• At my post-blocked gauge, I worked 17R between each decrease round (starting after the first decrease, which is directed to occur at a certain round) to achieve the instructed distance between decrease rounds. I found it strange that the instructions indicate that the last 2 decrease rounds happen back-to-back (unless I misunderstood). Seems to have worked out fine and the slightly visible step will block out. At 60st (the final circumference) I worked 31R. This got me to 17” below split for sleeves (instructed length) which may actually be a bit longer than necessary.

• I’ll wait till finishing the body before binding off the sleeves in case I determine that I should remove length (either because the sleeves are longer than necessary OR because I run out of yarn for the body - the length of which is a bigger priority to me than the sleeve length). At a min, I’ll rip back 2R of each sleeve to have the yarn for the BO.

• After finishing sleeves (except BO), I have 37g left to complete the body. That’s 194y. I may well have to shorten the sleeves.

• I shortened the sleeves by 2 rows each in order to allow for the bind off set up. As with the body, I did 2 set up rows, not 4 (as instructed) because I really don’t like what that does to the shape of the bind off. I used the suggested needle size (US2).

Final Thoughts:

• As you can see from the pre- and post-blocked measurements, this thing did grow (but strangely). I only pinned the hem and the underarms to ensure length in the body, but somehow the neck grew wider and longer. In retrospect, I wish I’d made it smaller but that ship has long sailed.

• I likely won’t get any wear out of it until fall, as spring is happening now, so I won’t know if this is the kind of thing that gets wear in my wardrobe I hope so.

• This project has only made me love Lamana Como yarn more. To have a turtle neck sweater, full length, with full-length sleeves for 218g is my idea of light fabric. But it’s also very warm.

Pre-blocked Dimensions:

Neck Depth (to beginning of stockinette, measured from back neck for accuracy given short rows): 5.3”
Neck Circ: 19” at the top / cast on
Arm circ (upper): 10” unstretched
Arm circ (wrist): 7” unstretched
Length of arm from underarm to wrist: 16”
Body length from underarm to hem: 14”
Circ of upper bodice along the latitude of the collar where it meets stockinette section, includes arms: 36”
Bust circ: 38” - 39” unstretched
Hem circ: 32” unstretched

Post-blocked Dimensions:

Neck Depth (to beginning of stockinette, measured from back neck for accuracy given short rows): 6” (not pinned, so this grew…)
Neck Circ: 21” at the top / cast on
Arm circ (upper): 9” unstretched
Arm circ (wrist): 8” unstretched
Length of arm from underarm to wrist: 17”
Body length from underarm to hem: 13.5”
Circ of upper bodice along the latitude of the collar where it meets stockinette section, includes arms: 37”
Bust circ: 40” unstretched
Hem circ: 35” unstretched

Gauge Swatching (Saga)

Reswatching in stockinette in Feb 2024:

Preblocked US4: 24st and 34R in 4”
Postblocked US4: 22.25st and 36R in 4”

Grew by 7% horizontally and shrank by 6% vertically

Preblocked US5: 23st and 32R in 4”
Postblocked US5: 22 and 33-34R in 4”

Grew by 4% horizontally and shrank by 4% vertically

30-08-2022

US5 Stockinette:
Preblocked: 24st and 34R in 4”
Postblocked: 24st and 34R in 4”

US 5 - 2x2 Rib
Preblocked: 27st and 34R in 4”
Postblocked: 26.5st and 35-36R in 4”

Note that the swatches above were with reused/already blocked yarn so they won’t shrink as if initially blocked.

Stockinette US6:
Pre-blocked Gauge: 23st x 34R in 4”
Post-blocked Gauge: 22st x 34R in 4”

Stockinette US6.5
Pre-blocked: 22.5st and 31.5R in 4”
Post-blocked: 21st and 30R in 4”

Note that I’ve never seen this US 6.5 needle size anywhere other than Dyak Craft, where I bought this one…

Stockinette US7 Stockinette:
Pre-blocked Gauge: 22st and 28R in 4”
Post-blocked Gauge: 21st and 30.5R in 4”