Disclaimer - Any gripes I have with this project are of my own making, not the pattern - the pattern is fantastic! Rebecca is a very detail oriented designer. I will make this pattern again - a great basic sweater shape.

I was selected as one of the test knitters for this pattern - in the fingering weight group. I wanted to use up stash - so I searched until I found three skeins - no more, no less. The choice was Malabrigo Sock from the closing sale at Yarncakes. Malabrigo says “no dye lot” - they are right!

I knit a swatch trying the yarn plain, and with one then two strands of laceweight lambswool/cashmere coned yarn added, for a bit a stability. It didn’t really change the gauge, just added some filler. I decided one strand was enough.

In hindsight, I should have wound all the skeins into cakes and chose their order in the light of day - not just picked randomly at night, when they all looked the same. There is a line of demarcation across the back where I added the second skein before I joined in the round. It looks like a solid color - no contrast! I ended up alternating all three skeins doing helical knitting, until the first skein ran out. So that was New technique #1.

#2 was the shoulder shaping. This was very easy to follow in the pattern, although when knitting it’s hard to picture how it will sit, since it lies behind were we usually see a shoulder seam. Trust the pattern and all will be well - and it was. Very tidy, lovely seam!

#3 was the set in sleeve shaping with short rows. I steam blocked the armholes to stop the edge curling, and then placed removable stitch markers at the bottom of the armhole then at the top (remember that the shoulder seam is offset) and then divided into quarters with more markers. I picked up roughly 3 for 4, but one for one at the underarm stitches. I wrote down my stitch count for each section between the markers. It was just a few more than the number suggested in the pattern, so I worked the first round decreasing what I needed to get the number to match the pattern. The short row shaping was easy, and I did add a stitch marker every time I made a double stitch, for ease of knowing where they were.

I also picked up for the neck stitch for stitch matching the front and back stitches, but 3 for 4 along the angled neck edge. Happy with that choice.

Happy with the finished sweater - my first fingering weight sweater! I will make another, but it will be better not to have a deadline to push against, because I like to knit several projects at once, and the finer weight yarn does indeed take more time.