Notes on the Knit:

• Update April 26, 2023: I didn’t love the fit so I did sweater surgery on this, to improve fit under the arms, . Effectively, I unknit about 8” of the garment to remove 2” of circ between the under arm and the narrowest part of the sweater. (See notebook for how you worked the specifics but note that, in this version, since you had to get to 208st when you reattached the bottom 5.25” of the sweater, via kitchener stitch, you decreased 8 st over 2 dec rounds to 204st (vs increasing to 224 st) and then increased once to get from 204 to 208st before grafting.) Also opted to knit 4 more rounds to lengthen the body by ~0.5”. This used 6 more grams of yarn but the sweater, which is much longer than instructed, still only used 210g of yarn. I may eventually opt to lengthen the sleeves (to use up the rest of the yarn and because longer sleeves seem more practical on a wool sweater) but I really don’t love this yarn so I’m not inclined to do it now. I’ll see if the shorter sleeve version gets worn first.

• Having now re-blocked this yarn for the umpteenth time - and observing how the water continues to turn entirely blue EVERY time I rinse it, I believe the reason that this batch of Quince Finch has an unpleasantly crunchy hand is because of the way the yarn took the dye. I am amazed by how impossible it is to remove the excess. It actually creeps me out at this point. I’m over Quince yarn (no other batch of which has had the same degree of dye bleed) for the most part. I think it’s a fine wool yarn for newbies / those who want workhorse above all else / those who are looking to stay within a budget, but there are so many yarns that fall into this category that do the job just as well or better.

• It would appear this pattern was updated after I bought it (though Ravelry didn’t send me an update message - as it always does - perhaps because wires crossed). I spent far too many hours working from an earlier version, which did have issues (particularly in yoke depth and neckband circ / number of short rows). In the new version, the cast on number of stitches has changed. So has the number of short rows and the stitch counts between the DS’s. I’m irritated by this snafu because I knitted the original yoke and sleeve 2x. If I hadn’t already redrafted this pattern to work for my specific body, there is no way I’d have bothered to knit it yet again. Now that I’ve adjusted the fit, I’ll use this as a sloper. Make sure you work from the most recent version.

• I am surprised that this simple raglan sweater comes with a pattern that’s 22 pages long. I can imagine that, as a newer knitter, this might be somewhat appealing (if maybe also overwhelming). There’s definitely a lot of information provided - including on the fit front. I do tend to like lots of info but I found this pattern to be overkill.

• Unfortunately, the March 23 version is extremely convoluted in its presentation, more so even than the original. Figuring out how to interpret short row instructions by size takes too much effort IMO (the original version was more clearly presented). I actually re-typed the pattern on paper - and it took a good while - so that I wouldn’t get confused by the diff sections within the multi-sized document. Basically, I put 40 hours into this project before I actually started knitting the final version. I should have just drafted this myself but, as it goes, I chose this pattern to save myself from having to do the thinking. Ha!

• My mods effectively removed fabric from the sleeves, added fabric at the full bust, then removed fabric at the under bust (I started and ended with the stitch counts for the size 3 but my raglan went very differently than instructed). I also opted not to decrease stitches before doing the twisted ribbing on the body because I am a middle-aged woman who does not have a flat stomach (though my stomach is not larger than my full bust circ). I also didn’t decrease when I did the arm ribbing because I’d reduced the stitch count to one well below smallest size before I switched from stockinette to rib. I made my sweater body 4” longer than instructed and each sleeve 1.5” longer than instructed. Given that I have a projected bust, fabric length is eaten up by profile. My version lands at the high hip and is not tight at all, but it is def fitted.

• Size 3 is supposed to use 645y of yarn. I used 900y. I’m actually quite surprised it took that much more yarn than called for, even given my mods, because I usually have yarn left over - and I always do mods. I have to assume that there’s not a lot of overage accounted for in the yarn requirements because this design is fitted AND cropped. So overage isn’t as likely to be an issue if the garment is made according to instructions. Just keep this in mind if you choose to go off road.

Specifics:

• Neckband: CO for size 3 and I’m working the single layer rib version.

• Main Section: Note that the beginning of round marker is situated at the centre back.

• So this section is either written or “charted” on a size-by-size basis. It uses a specific “take” on keeping the raglan increases straight (a diff version, but the CocoKnits sweater workshop method, for ex., does this too). I didn’t follow the chart (too small and not laid out in a way that works for me personally). I created my own chart from the written instructions.

• What’s most interesting about this very straight-forward pattern / design is that it creates a compound raglan (technically many raglan designs are compound to some extent - but this one is compound in in a pretty serious way). Sometimes you work only body incs, sometimes only sleeve incs, sometimes both and sometimes neither. But it’s the specific pattern of incs that provides the snug upper bust fit and long, straight raglan line. (Note: Compound simply refers to the rate of increase on sleeves, front and back body. On a standard raglan sweater, technically all of the segments (front, back and sleeves) have equal rates of increase on increase rounds.)

• My upper bust measurement is mid-way between size 2 and 3, closer to size 2, but my bust is proportionately large and quite projected. As size 3 gets me to 35” at desired yoke depth, I’m going to go with it.

• Because I prefer less negative ease, I’ll work some additional increases (12 st over 2”) at the side body after I split for sleeves for ~2” negative ease at full bust. I’ll then decrease between full and under bust back to the size 3 circumference.

• I’ll also lengthen this so that it’s 12.5” of body depth from under arm (but I’ll have to see as I go).

Raglan Shaping:

• Prior to splitting for sleeves, I actually removed 18st from the circumference of each sleeve because, even in the revised version of the pattern, this is designed for arms that are proportionately large. Given that the rest of the sweater is knitted with negative ease, it seems strange that the sleeves are so roomy. I do realise that all bodies are different but, proportionate to torso size, these sleeves are drafted large which is observable in many of the project pages.

• As such, I didn’t work any of the S1 rounds, In fact, I replaced the S1 rounds with B1 rounds because I wanted to get to 35.3” of circ (212st) as of the split for sleeves. Effectively, I increased on body 4 times more than the pattern recommended (16st) and I didn’t increase on the sleeves 9 times (36st). That left me with 20st fewer for size 3 than called for, overall, until the split for sleeves. I knitted this to a modified size (arms smaller than smallest size, upper bust and yoke in size 3, full bust larger than size 3 and under bust to hem in size 3). I created less negative ease at the full bust (by doing side body increases after the split for sleeves). My sleeves will have about 1” positive ease to 0 ease as I move towards the elbow. My sleeve CO stitch count is 74st, once the raglan stitches are incorporated into the sleeves (after the split) and the stitches are picked up at the under arm.

• Post-Split Side-Body Shaping: To mitigate negative ease (2” is enough for me), I increased (M1L / M1R) over the first 17R so that I was at 37.3” circ at the full bust depth. (My full bust is about 39”.) Then I worked even for ~1”. Then I began decreases over the next 19R, to get back to the size 3 circ, at which point I’d worked 44R of the body and was at my under bust. Thereafter I worked even until I got to 10” (another 28R) of length and switched to smaller needles for the 24R (2.5’) of twisted rib hem. My gauge on US2, twisted rib, was 10R per inch.

• Body took 170g of yarn (4.3yards per gram) or 731y.

• Sleeves: I totally reworked these given that I needed 6st fewer than the smallest size at the cast on. I started with 74st on the needles (56st plus 4 raglans plus 14 st CO at underarm) even though I casted on 10st at the body when I split for sleeves. This allowed for 2 initial decreases over the first inch of depth. I then worked 48R (till just above elbow), decreasing evenly every 5th round till I got to 54st. Finally, I worked twisted rib for 10R on smaller needles. BO in pattern loosely.

• Each sleeve took 17g of yarn (outrageously yarn efficient) and they fit at the elbow.

Pre-blocked Dimensions:

Bust Circ: 38”
Waist/Hip Circ: 24” (the rib is v snug but v stretchy)
Length from under arm to hem: 13.25”
Length from back neck (below neckband) to hem): 20”
Length from underarm to cuff: 6.5”
Diagonal depth of raglan (diagonal to under arm): 9.5”
Depth of yoke (vertical to under arm): 7.5”
Depth of front neck: 2” (not including neckband)
Neck width: 7” (not incl neckband)
Bicep circ: 10”
Cuff circ (at elbow): 6.5