Scope: an Oleana inspired fancy cardi in fushchia, interesting greens against palest pinky/white. ‘More is more’ for this baby. Still in design phase as of May 19 2016. So far have reworked a Peony motif from Poetry in Stitches. Still searching for yarn and colours. June 9: Have the colours under control. Waiting for 1 last shipment from Jamieson & Smith.

Considering some edgings for pizzazz and darts to shape a peplum. Must actually put this away and design for Jason. His must be designed and knit for Christmas. Next step: Take everything to Reverie next visit and get accurate measurements.

May 15 2017: This has been waiting a year. It is next in my ‘head’ cue. If I put it in Rav cue it is the kiss of death. Have done some work on motifs and have decided to discard the Solveig Hisdal stylized peony from Poetry in Stitches. I found a chart on a Russian website, made same changes and additions and I think it will work well. Will start asa Quebec is complete.

June 24 2017: Got Susan’s measurements while there for J’s grad. Also finished my test swatch of 100 stitches by 56 rows.

July 7: Design is just about complete based on tension obtained from swatch. Will be knitting soon. Have now decided no ruffles as colours very bold. Will work a green/fuschia 2-2 rib all around when complete.

July 9: the actual knitting has begun
July 12: seems to be OK. 24 rounds done and I think my tension is on target. Curls terribly as rib goes on last for this cardi.
July 13: so my stitch tension of 8 sts per inch is correct but row tension more like 8.5 row per inch. The 4 inches done is ok but I altered charts slightly increasing overall rounds from 209 to 212 including cap and cuffs. I lowerd the beginning of armhole steeks and neck shaping. No big deal.
July 18: about 8 inches done. Pockets in and waist shaping coming along.
Aug 11: Visited Susie for fitting which indicates time to set up armhole steeks. Fit looks good.
Aug 26: OK body is done. Need to shop for buttons, decide on final cap design and pick up a zillion stitches around the whole thing for the ribbing.
Aug 27 Picked up a half zillion stitches and need to buy more 2.75 needle(s).
Aug 28: Set up a chart for sleeve caps, but felt insecure as to design. Spent time with Shirley Paden’s Knitwear Design Workshop book, and worked out an entirely different sleeve cap design based on her chapter on sleeves. So I will knit sleeves separately, cuff up, and set them into the garment. Scary, as with shoulder down to cuff I can change length at end if I need to…
Sept 9: Body completely finished including the mind-numbing 800+ stitch ribbing and facing. All hems and facings tacked down. I sewed buttons on today as reward for completing rib. Just a few rows to go before cap on first sleeve.

I will note that Susan has long arms and likes her sleeve cuffs to end a little below her wrist. Therefore I increased the length of the sleeve. At the same time I reduced the height of the sleeve cap so that ultimately there are still 212 rows in the entire sleeve. This is what I had early in the sleeve design, but the shape is quite different.
(This project seems to be taking a long time but it is just because summer became busy, followed by preserving season. It is not because I haven’t been enjoying this project.)
Sept 10: The right sleeve is 19.5” long. I set up a steek for sleeve cap and completed my cap chart.
Sept 11: Wow the cap will be a quick knit. Starting from 67 stitches decreasing down to 41 before final four 4-stitch cast-offs and ultimate cast off of 25 stitches. Should be done this tomorrow. (See photo showing almost half of stitches on steek.)
Sept 12 - right sleeve complete. Looks like it will fit into armscye. Left cuff and first couple of inches done.
Sept 14: Set right sleeve into sweater. Looks quite good. Looks like Shirley Paden’s sleeve geometry works. Yay! Have 12” of left sleeve worked. (I might have this done for TKG meeting on Wed 20th.)
Sept 16: Ready to start cap for left sleeve. Like the monogram. OK knitting complete today. Sleeve cap blocked out for insertion tomorrow.
Sept 17: Left sleeve insertion completed. Needs a little blocking around shoulders. Also sleeves were blocked to get the cap flat for insertion. Now they should be blocked again with fold at seam. Totally done except for pic with Susie Q.. Stay tuned Sept 28th and 29th.
Oct 1: delivered and fits perfectly. Yay

Finished blocked dimensions:
Length from shoulder to bottom of ribbing 27.5”
Sleeve length from shoulder to bottom of cuff 26”
Sleeve length from underarm to bottom of cuff 19.5”
Arm circumference at widest: 14”
Sleeve cuff circumference at bottom 7”
Hip circumference at widest: 43”
Waist circumference 37”
Bust circumference including front rib buttoned: 39”