Crocheted about 8 rows at the suggested 102 stitches for 24”. Mine was about 29-30” so I ripped out and started over with 82 stitches. I am a loose crocheter. I didn’t want to go to a smaller hook because I liked how the swatch looked with the 4.5 hook, so just went with less stitches. 82 stitches is running about 23” across now that I have several rows in.
10/30/16 Completed 38 rows of the first (back) panel. It’s going a little slower than I anticipated with all of the post stitches, but I’m really liking the texture.
11/5/16 Finished front panels (32 stitches x 95 rows each)
11/18/16 Took some time off to make a few hats. Should get back to this soon.
01/08/17 ok, well didn’t get back to this as soon as I thought. Got about 2/3 through both sleeves today. (When I need to make 2 identical things, I usually crochet up to a certain point on one then start the next one and switch back and forth to ensure they come out the same.)
01/15/17 Finished both sleeves. The end is in sight.
01/25/17 seamed the side panels to the back panels and the sleeves to the armholes. Wove in all ends. Starting on the collar/edging. Made it through 3 rounds of the collar/edging. Crocheting the first round, when I got to the sides, I crocheted over the side of the first stitch and into the space between it and the second stitch to avoid having to sew down the raised edge if crocheting into the second stitch. Also the pattern doesn’t state how many stitches in each stitch, but from the photo it looks like one hdc in each stitch. I crocheted one hdc in each stitch across the bottom, but when I got to the sides and the collar, I found one hdc in each stitch (hdcs are going into the sides of stitches here) were pulling a little tight, so I crocheted 2hdc, hdc, hdc, repeat around to starting corner and that fixed the problem.
01/28/17 Eleven rows to go, but haven’t decided if I want to stop here or continue with the last 11 rows. It’s perfect now, if I add a belt. One skein of yarn left out of 7.
1/31/17 Four rows to go!
2/02/17 Finished!!