Swatching. Naturally, I can’t actually follow the pattern’s suggested yarn weight or needle size.

Gauge with US5
Unblocked: 4” = 22 sts and 30.5 rows or 1” = 5.5 sts and 7.6 rows

Blocked: 4” = 22.5 sts and 29.5 rows or 1” = 5.6 sts and 7.3 rows

With my gauge, doing a 49” (with 196 stitches around the body) will give me a 35” sweater. Sold.

2 Jul
Making a v-neck instead of round. Instead of casting on 12 stitches then joining in the round, I continued working back and forth, doing 10-increase rows, until I had increased all of the neckline stitches. Then I joined in the round (without casting on more sts) and continued with 8-increase rounds.

3 Jul
Measured myself while contemplating waist shaping and have decided to do it. Otherwise I will have 7” of positive ease at my waist. That’s gonna look too loose.

My Measurements:
Bust = 34”
Waist = 28”
Hips = 33”

6 Jul
Just joined the fourth ball of yarn! I’m trying to take a picture of my progress as I add each ball. The third ball of yarn seems to have gone a lot farther than the first two.

8 Jul
Only got to do 6 decreases before I was half an inch from my waist. Time for increases. I’m not quite through the 4th ball but posting a pic anyway.

14 Jul
Working on the 1/1 ribbing with US2.5 needles. It’s slow going but it looks lovely.

17 Jul
Have finished the bottom ribbing. Finished off with a tubular bind off that took about three hours. At least it is pretty!

Next up: neck ribbing. Once that is done I will be able to use as much yarn as I want to finish up the sleeves.

But first, that requires math.

Ribbing gauge with US2.5 (lightly stretched):
~25sts = 4” or ~6.25 sts =1”

Neckline measurements for picking up sts
Sides: 6.5” - picked up 40 sts per side
Shoulders: 3.5” - picked up 20 sts per side
Back: 9” - picked up 58
178 sts total

For Neckline Ribbing
When picking up sts, M1 for center stitch of v-neck (179 sts). Place marker on either side of M1. Pick up one extra sts at end of rnd (to keep sts count for 1/1 ribbing) (180sts)

Round 1: Work in 1/1 rib to within 2 stitches of center marker, ssk, pm, k1, pm, k2tog, work in 1/1 rib to end of round.

Round 2: Work in established rib pattern to within 2 stitches of center marker, ssk, pass marker, k1, k2tog, work in established rib to end of round.

Repeat round 2.

Finished with the neck ribbing! Used a cable bind off and it looks lovely. Did make one oops in the ribbing though: forgot that I should have picked up sts at a 1:1 ratio for the back instead of matching gauge to prevent flare. The back collar isn’t laying flat but rather standing up a little. Shall fix that later (through tacking, not re knitting, cause I’m lazy like that).

23 Jul
Finished with the 7th ball, just attached the 8th. I’m tapering the sleeves but wondering if it is enough taper. Hmm.

25 Jul
I did the math and the arms were just going to be too big for me. So I knit most of the left sleeve with the 8th ball of yarn and then ripped the right arm back to the beginning to have another go.

In the adapted arms, I kept the picked up stitches the same but quickly decreased down to 70 sts. Then knit 24 rounds plain before starting the decreases, which I am doing every 12 rounds (instead of every 13).

28 Jul
Finished with the first sleeve! Did 7 decreases, then 2” of 1/1 ribbing with a tubular bind off.

I definitely won’t have enough yarn to finish the second one, but the delightful akasha111182 has agreed to help me out and let me buy her one ball of the yarn that has a matching dye lot. Yay!

Also, the sweater is completely covered in cat hair. The disadvantage of having cats sit in my lap when I knit!

31 Jul
Finished! The sleeves are a tad shorter than idea but that’s because they should lengthen with blocking (based on my swatch). Or at least, that’s the theory. The sweater is soaking now so we’ll know soon! YAY!

3 Aug
It is dry and I love it! It lengthened just a tad in blocking (as anticipated) so it is now perfect! I ADORE THIS!