12/17/10: Swatched the Renaissance with size 10 circular bamboo needles and it came out exactly to gauge, though indicated that a traditional bind-off will be too tight and unyielding.

12/18/10: Cast on with the long tail method at 10am on Saturday morning.

12/23/10: During my bus ride north for the holidays, I finished the yoke, held the sleeves, and knit the first five rows of the body. Setting aside the sweater for a few days while I work on Dad’s Birthday Hat and the Jeweler’s Sleeves for Mom.

(Hat completed 12/31/10. Scholar Collar completed 02/11/11. Sleeves (1) completed 02/28/11 and (2) completed 03/27/11.)

03/01/11: Corrin is studying like mad for her orals, which gives me way too much time to fret about moving. Solution = large quantities of straight knit. Francis has become my go-to project while sharing study space with her or watching TED talks instead of trashy television. I should hit the decrease point on the body this afternoon.

03/27/11: With just two and a half rows of seed stitch to go prior to binding off the lower edge, I’ll be ready to photograph the sweater on a human model on Tuesday night. With my travel and transit schedule, I might have a fully wearable garment by Tax Day.

03/30/11: Last night I Corrin snapped a photograph of me wearing my bound off Francis. The seed stitch pattern at the bottom is lovely, I adore the fit, and I can’t wait to finish it for wearing. I have a solid three inches knitted on the sleeves, and have decided to knit full-length, fitted sleeves rather than 3/4 length bells -- I have such a hard time finding sweaters with long enough sleeves that I’m taking advantage of the “make my own” sizing opportunity.

09/10/11: My goal is to finish this sweater in time for Christmas. On Tuesday, I finished the first sleeve (103 rows of straight knit in the round, followed by 5 rows of seed stitch for the cuff). This morning I knit more than 25% of the second sleeve. I’d like to pick up for the cowl at knitting group on Tuesday night.

09/29/11: I bound off the cowl on Sunday, picked up wool wash on Tuesday, blocked the sweater yesterday, and mattress-stitched the cowl and underarms tonight.

I am SUPER pleased with this pattern after my modifications:

1. I knit the sleeves straight, for 100 rows from the join to the wrist, plus just five rows of seed stitch. The result is a sleeve that folds back to show the “wrong” side of the seed stitch cuff but fits my arm perfectly.

2. I have a serious hourglass figure, with a 10” difference from hips to waist and from waist to bust, so I decreased 2” and then increased 2” at the waist for a fitted sillhouette. I also increased the overall length by 3”.

3. I stitched the cowl down across the back, but also around the edge of the shoulders to the front raglan seams, rather than the back seams. I have broad shoulders, so the cowl flopped rather unattractively before I added the extra mattress stitches.

SO HAPPY!