May 15: Finished back. Took almost a month of not constant knitting to get it done. Hopefully the fronts take less time as I’m starting to get really cold! The back took just under one ball, I’m keeping the remnant of that ball for seaming as I didn’t want to put a join on at the start of the right front.

Sep 4: And after finishing the waist increases on the left front I discovered I didn’t pick up enough stitches at the very start. I’m out by 2. That’s almost 1/2 an inch. I’m hoping blocking can make it up, and I’m going to add in an extra stitch on the next 2 of RS rows to make the stitch count right for armhole shaping and so on. My perfectionism is telling me to rip it, but I know I’ll never finish it if I do that… I only just got back into knitting it.

Sep 6: Finished left front. Just added in two extra stitches.

November 11: Finished first sleeve. Started the second. If this weather keeps on being miserable I may even get to wear the finished cardigan this year. No doubt the weather will change while I’m stitching it up! Still, I remember Christmas day with the heater on a few years ago, so anything is possible.

November 15: So close…onto the sleeve cap shaping of the second sleeve. On the home strength. The weather is still pretending to be winter, so I might get to wear it!

Later on… finished all the knitting. Shoved the whole lot into the washing machine really quickly so I wouldn’t be tempted to sew it up without blocking first.

674g used

I’ve been thinking about the sleeves. I want full-length rather than 3/4 sleeves. I thought I really wanted to keep the flare, but I think I want to keep the non-ribbed cuff more (or I realised that what I really liked was not the flare but the lack of ribbed cuff). SO, I’ll try and work out a semi-fitted sleeve numbers, and cut out the extra stitches in the reverse stocking stitch section of the sleeve. Will have to work out the decreases myself.

Here’s my new plan of attack for the sleeves:
Wrist 8” = 18x2 = 37sts (loose fit)
Elbow 11.5” = 53sts
~11” between wrist and elbow, so increase 16 sts over 11” (~70 rows, inc 2 sts every 8th row)

At Cap shaping we need 69 sts, increase 16 sts between elbow and sleeve cap shaping (~42 rows, inc 2 sts every 6 rows)

Total length to shaping is approx 17.5-18”

Want cuff in stocking st w/turning row, (8 rows, turn, 8 rows) all on 4.5mm needle
Then begin increases.

Stuff I would do differently if I were to make it again.

• Remember the cuff adds length (yep, I’m that stupid) when figuring out the increases. This may or may not be a problem, I’ll see when it’s sewn together but luckily I don’t mind sleeves a little long to cover the tops of my hands.
• Turns out the sleeves are the perfect length to go on my wrist, but would still so increases earlier
• Do increases every 6 rows all the way up, or every 4 then 6. The 8 is just a bit far apart and see point 1…I ran out of length before I’d completed all the increases.
• Instead of having the lace panel off centre on the sleeves, put 3 sts in the middle of the panel and decrease the central stitch on the first increase row. That way there’s an even number of stitches on each side of the panel. As is I did one sleeve with 1 more stitch on one side and then changed it to one more st on the other side on the second sleeve.
• Add extra ease, the sleeves fit but could probably stand a little more room. However, I didn’t block the lace panels out so they’re acting more like rib.
• Change where the waist shaping sits and maybe overall lengthen? But I still really like it…