15-01-2021

Pattern calls for 1081 yards and I have 1048 yards.

I’m going to shorten the front and back very slightly - by 0.25” each (to preserve yarn since I don’t have quite as much as the pattern recommends and this is Custom Fit so the proposed yardage generally isn’t too far off).

So in the end will go for:

• Length from Hem to Waist - 6.75” (not 7”)

• Length from Waist to base of Armscye: 12.75” so length to armscye is 19.5” from hem

• Length to back neck from base of armscye is 5.75” so length from hem to back neck is 25.25

• Hem to shoulder bind off 26.25 (no longer than this) - in the end mine was 26”

Make sure you remember to do this on both FRONT and BACK.

My intention is to block the Front and Back to dimensions, then sew the shoulders, then do the neckline.

Whatever is left I’ll divide in half (or in quarters because I’m alternating skeins) and then I’ll be able to work the sleeves to whatever length the remaining yarn enables.

17-01-2021

Amount of yarn: 426g

Back piece weighs 127g

Blocked the back to the measurements provided within the pattern. Given that the yarn has a lot of bounce, once blocked, when pins are removed and the garment relaxes, finished measurements are:

Back Bodice
16.75” waist and upper back
17.75” hips (ribbing will stretch)
Full length from shoulder seam to hem: 25.75”
Armscye depth: 7”
Shoulder width - 3.25” - 3.5”
Neck width - 5.5”

Post- blocked measurements for front bodice which was pinned to size in pattern

Front Bodice
20.5” full bust
19” waist
19” hip
7” armscye depth
36.5” full length from hem to shoulder seam
4.5” neck depth
3.5” shoulder width

25-01-2021

I have 139g of yarn remaining to do:
Neck band
Sleeves
Seaming

26-01-2021

So, I put the 2 pieces together with pins, to try it on and here’s what I can say:

• It’s borderline too long - and I knew it was going to be long based on this being the length of the last Custom Fit sweater I knitted.
• I knew the vneck was stupidly high - why didn’t I deal with it right off?!?! Might as well be a crew neck! So I’ve ripped the entire front back to 1.25” below the previous start of neckline. That was a pain in the ass, given that I’m alternating hand-dyed skeins.
• Given that I don’t want to reblock the front after re-knitting the top 4 inches (give or take), I’m going to have to go into the carefully halved remainders of balls as yet unused. Which means that I’ll have to figure out how to work the yarn on the sleeves differently (re: potential colour pooling) AND it means that I might end up having to use some of the yarn in the ball that is least like the others. Frankly, it’s muddling with the rest of the skeins.

Sigh.

Another thing I don’t love: I blocked this to size - and I made this in the same size as a previous Custom Fit sweater, and this one is just too big - and I am pretty damned sure that I have not lost weight in the pandemic. So I had to use my hair dryer on the front piece - the piece that is too wide - to try and shrink it up by maybe a half an inch. It remains to be seen if this will do the trick.

All in all, Custom Fit is not optimal for me - and I’ve made 3 sweaters previously. It doesn’t take the work out of knitting if one is fussy and doesn’t really like the general sloper. I think I’ve now made my peace with the fact that Custom Fit is better in concept than in practice given that I am able to do knitting math on my own (even if I’d prefer not to have to) and I know my body IRL.

Note: I ripped back to 88 stitches (aka to the point where 2 RS armscye decrease rows remained) and then began the neckline - that means I had “at the same time” action happening at the neck and armscye simultaneously for 4 rows.

I unravelled 20g of yarn - 10 g from the extra blue skein and 10g from the extra brown skein.

27-01-2021

In the end, this is too big, I don’t like the way the colour is pooling and I don’t like the way the neckline works. I’m done with this.