I’m not a skull fan, usually, but this tiny one in the middle of the lovely traditional snowflake was irresistible.

• used 2.75 mm for collar ribbing, 3.0 for hem and front ribbing, 3.25 mm for body, and 3.5 mm for colourwork.
• no short rows at the back, as I didn’t want my chart lowered in the front, given its increased size.
• see adjustments for chart, below.
• accidentally increased on 3rd CC stripe at the top instead of the 4th, so started my chart 4 rows earlier. That’s ok, with the larger chart.
• 31 grams of blue left after the body. 17 grams left after the front bands.
• 13 grams of green left after the body. -front bands: picked up 2/3 for 134 stitches. 11 3-stitch buttonholes. Did 11 rows rib after pick-up then bound-off with larger needle, to make a nice wide band.
• start off with size M. I’m using thinner yarn and smaller needles than I used for my prior project, so the yoke should fit better. After yoke chart, increase to 336 st. After sleeve split and cast-on, L has 220 - 55 fronts, 110 back, with 68 to sleeves. My other version had 206. Increase 4 stitches twice for the bust.

Sleeves - 78 stitches. Decrease every 6th row 1 times then every 12th row until 60 stitches remain. Do one stripe in blue then 2x2 ribbing for 10 rows with same needle.

97 grams green left, and 48 grams blue.

Notes on incorporating the longer chart:

• The deathflake chart is 29 stitches wide and 29 rows long. The sheep chart is 16 rows and has 52 stitches increased at row 8 and 48 stitches increased at row 17, after the chart. - I started with 213 stitches (vs 210 in the pattern) to have 1 stitch between each of 7 motifs and 2 at each front.
• starting with row 6 of the chart I increased 1 stitch at each front and 2 between the sheep, beside the pattern (14 st). Repeat every 6 rows, ending up with 56 stitches increased (plus the extra 3 I stared with).
• After the chart, increase the remaining 41 stitches to end up with 310. This results in the motif not being disturbed, but just gradually getting further away from the other motifs. Worked well!

The name of this yarn is Esopus (ee SO pus). The 2 Lichen were a gift from the lovely Betsynotliz. I love this yellow-green but it’s better away from my face. I searched and found this great blue and then started hunting for a pattern to use up the Lichen with something else near my face.

I decided a yoke pullover or cardi was the best idea then spent hours looking at flower yolks (there are many beautiful ones, both traditional and modern) then hit on the idea of skulls. The deathflake chart is perfect, with a beautiful traditional looking pattern plus those subversive little skulls. Perfect for 2 middle-aged women who share a fondness for Nine Inch Nails.

I looked through a ton of yoked sweater patterns, both top-down and bottom up, in fingering and other weights, then decided to use the Angry Sheep pattern I have used before here. It’s perfect, top-down, and the fit is good, so why go anywhere else?