Final Thoughts:

• I love the finished result. The two yarns, though one is rustic and the other slinky, work very well together and the colours pair fantastically. I would totally stripe with these two yarns again.

• I undid the BO and worked 5 more rounds of twisted rib before binding off again with Simple Stretchy Bind Off - Very Pink Knits. The addition of a bit of length and less tightness at hem is just what I was looking for. I don’t recommend binding off in twisted rib / with twisted stitches. It will make the BO in pattern tighter than it would be otherwise. My second BO used 4g of yarn. The stretchy BO yielded 9” of additional circumference unstretched with barely any flare. That’s pretty wild.

Knitting Notes:

• This is based on the Tumble Tee that I modified heavily. Effectively, it’s a fitted raglan with stitch counts to work for all of my dimensions. Specifically, I’ve made this a bit more open in the neck (but not by much), lengthened the sleeves (to 3/4 length) and lengthened the body to 13” below split for sleeves. I’ve also striped it.

• I don’t love how top down raglan designs stripe when the stripes are wide (like more than ~5-row stripes). If I were using 3 colours, I’d be able to mitigate the blocky, square look where the neckline continues, even with slightly wider stripes. But I don’t want to use 3 colours. I also think that the short rows are necessary for the fit but this complicates things when one is looking for narrower stripes…

• Another issue with changing up the number or positioning of the short rows is that, were I to stop them at the front raglan, that is to say, work so that none of the short rows moved onto the front of the garment, I’d lose 24st of increases on the front body because the short row shaping occurs at the same time that the raglan numbers increase over the 12 short rows.

• To mitigate the blocky look, I worked the neckband in one colour (C1), first half of the short rows in the next (C2), the second half of the short rows in C1 and the first full stripe in C2. Having said this, that meant I had to do raglan increases, short rows and colour changes at the same time, and within the first 12 short rows. Update: It was a bit tricky at first but this is entirely doable and I think it produces a nice result.

• Because I used 2 yarns made of rather diff properties (“rustic” BFL/masham and super wash merino yak), I averaged the gauges, which are fairly similar, even if the fabric texture produced is quite diff. for each yarn. Update: Gauge changed while knitting, now meets pattern…

• I considered going down a needle size for this version, given that the yarns are less robust than the Quince & Co. Finch I used last time. But I then decided to make this fitted garment a smidge less fitted (so that it doesn’t seem sheer). That’ll make it more useful for spring/early summer wear. Update: In the end, I made the neck and yoke 6st larger than called for in my size but the yarn really isn’t sheer. I’d say this version is as fitted as the previous one and I prefer it in this fabric / knitted with these drapier yarns. The Quince Finch version I made recently is really crunchy. Even with blocking in lanolin wash, it feels a bit like cardboard.

• Body: While I didn’t go down a needle size, I also opted not to increase after split for sleeves this time (that’s what I did last time). Reason is that I was at 36” at split for sleeves, given gauge changes while knitting (that’s more than an inch bigger than my upper bust measurement). Also, this fabric is drapey and I don’t think it’s necessary to have as much circumference…Update: Somehow, I accidentally split for sleeves with 16 too-few stitches on the body (?!) so I had to do 4 increase rounds of 4st per inc round, every other round on the body that I should have included by the time I’d split for sleeves. The up-side is that the upper bust above the split for sleeves fits better with fewer stitches (those that I forgot). Were I to make this again, fabric depending, I’d consider getting to 35” just above the split for sleeves and then do a couple of increase rounds just after split for sleeves.

• Alas, worked striped or no, every time I opt to knit this sloper in the future, the stitch counts will need to be adjusted to account for my then-gauge and the properties of the yarn / fabric the yarn will create.

• For this version: As of 3 stripes below split for sleeves, I was almost at full bust. I had another 6 stripes before I got to under bust depth. I decided, to do 3 dec rounds of 4st each, starting the first an inch above under bust and decreasing every 6R. Note: I started w/216st (not following the pattern stitch count / heavily modified). The circ with this yarn is 39” and my gauge appeared to grow to 5.5st/1”, at least before blocking (and it was really hard to predict how this combo of yarn would block or drape in the end). I did opt to do a 4th dec round and I really like the fit. But I wouldn’t have wanted to go any smaller… (200st at this point)**

• I opted to make the body 11.5” before switching to twisted rib (given the striping, I couldn’t just stop when I wanted to - I had to do stripes in pairs to get me to CC1 for hem). As such, I only did 1.5” twisted rib or 15R before BO. Update: The sleeves didn’t impact the length of the bodice so I just bound off at 1.5” of ribbing at hem.

• Sleeves:As of start of sleeves I had 50g of the Sunday Morning (brown) and 35g of the Yak Sock (pink).

• I had enough of both yarns to make the sleeves longer than elbow-length. To get to elbow-length, I knitted 9 stripes (starting with pink and ending with pink). Update: I decided to use as much of the pink as I could (because there wouldn’t be much left anyway) and I got to 3/4 length sleeves. I actually think this suits the proportions of the sweater well. It may not be a deep winter garment but it’s not going to be a summer one either. The 3/4 sleeves give me more opps to wear it.

• For future reference - On Body: 1 stripe = 5g of the brown or 5.5g of the pink (at largest circ, following split for sleeves). On sleeves: 1 stripe = 2g of brown or 2g of pink (at the bicep, so largest circ). The average over a full sleeve, for each stripe, is more like 1.5g - 1.75g because the sleeves decrease in circ as they’re worked.

Post-blocked Measurements:

Bust Circ: 38”
Hip Circ: 27” (unstretched rib)
Width of neck (incl neckband): 6”
Length of arm from split for sleeves: 13”
Length of body from split for sleeves: 13”
Depth of body hem: 1.5”
Circ at bicep: 11”
Circ at cuff: 6”
Length of raglan seam (diagonal) - not incl neckband: 8.25”
Depth of yoke (armscye depth / vertical) - not incl neckband: 7”

Stupidly forgot to write down my pre-blocked measurements but my sense is that the numbers didn’t change much from blocking. Also, note that this swatch is 4x4 and the sweater is going to have more weight (which may alter row gauge slightly).

BFL Masham: 24.5st and 36R in 4” C1
Yak Sock: 25.25st and 36R in 4” C2

I’d have preferred to use the pink as C1 (the colour that gets more action - cuffs, neckband and hem will be worked in C1) but I can’t get more of the hand-dyed Yak Sock and I really don’t want to knit all the way through this project only to find that I don’t have enough of the pink left to finish it. So prudence will win this time, esp as I used much more yarn than anticipated based on the fact that I’m going to lengthen the pattern by 4”.

The average is 6.2st per inch but I think I’ve got to go with st gauge for the smaller yarn to confirm that the fabric it creates won’t be too sheer. So we’re going to do the math for 6.3st and 9R in one inch.

Update: As so often happens, my gauge has changed while knitting. I’m now meeting pattern gauge - 6st and 8R per inch so I’ve adjusted my stripes sloper pattern (see Pattern folder on desktop) to reflect this…