I follow a blog, StellaMHorses, and she suggested this pattern as a knitalong. I fell in love with the pattern and thought the James C Brett yarn I used for my first sweater would also work well for this. I chose the burgandy color in MT9. I will be keeping track of this in my blog too so stop in from time to time.

10/1/11 - I actually did a swatch this time, a first for me, I’m ashamed to admit. Not really, but there it is, I’m a sometimes slacker.

10/2/11 - As usual, I have some difficulty in keeping my concentration on counting rows but I seem to have done better on my first sleeve by using two markers. One is used for which row I’m on and one is used for how many repeats of the increases I’ve done. For example, if I’m supposed to increase 1 stitch on each side every two rows 12 times: my first marker keeps track of which row I’m on (say 3 - an odd number so I know it’s an increase row 1st row knit, second row purl, next row knit with one increase each side). The second keeps track of how many times I’ve increased so I know when I reach 12. This may seem convoluted to some but my brain seems to be like a sieve.

10/3/11 - Done with the left sleeve and am currently working the shoulder.

10/15/11 - Had same counting issue with casting off to start the neck. I then worked across for the back of the neck and had to cast on for the right front. After I had cast on I realized that I could have made it easier for myself by figuring out how many stitches were on either side of the seed stitch stripe on the sleeve and then just putting a marker there. I could then cast off to the marker instead of counting each stitch.

10/18/11 - worked right shoulder and then started decreasing for right sleeve.

10/20/11 - sewed side seams by using a crocheted slip stitch.

10/21/11 - picked up stitches around front and neck for seed stitch band.

10/23/11 - created the seed stitch pockets for the front of the sweater.
10/24/11 - finished sewing the pockets on the sweater and it fits! Liked it so much I cast on for my second version of this. (See Manyhorsesmane KnitAlong Sweater II in my project list)