This has been a fun pattern to knit, but I ran out of yarn most of the way through -- and it wasn’t like I needed just one more skein either. I think the yardages were just wrong.

Update 26 Mar 2008: I realized (unfortunately after I was most of the way done) that my gauge was off. For example, the front/back and sleeve pieces were a couple of inches too long. On this pattern, I think the row gauge may turn out to be more important than the stitch gauge.

So I frogged the whole thing and am starting over with #6 needles. The gauge is still wrong (20.5st/27rows over 4”, supposed to be 20/28 in stockinette stitch), but I can’t go down any more because of the stitch gauge. Bah.

Update 26 Apr 2008: I’ve now finished the front piece on #6 needles, and it’s still an inch too long. That doesn’t matter so much for the body, but it will matter more for the sleeves and especially for the horizontal yoke. I’ve now also noticed that the recommended needle size on the yarn label is 3.5-4, so I really have no idea why the manufacturer’s own pattern is recommending #7’s. Grr.

Update 4 May 2008: I have almost completed the horizontal yoke on #5’s; my row gauge is now spot on over the cable pattern. (It would probably be off over stockinette stitch, which is what the pattern gives gauge in, but the sweater isn’t in stockinette, is it?)

A knitting friend suggested I could just do the horizontal yoke on smaller needles and continue with #6 for the rest, but I think I’ll switch to #5 and frog the one panel I’ve now got completed. It won’t take me that long to redo … at this point I could almost do the whole cable pattern in my sleep.

Update 12 Sep 2008: Finally done! I am writing up my final assessment on my blog.

Even having gone down two needle sizes, I ran out of yarn again on the yoke. Luckily, the fabulous AbiS had a ball of the right dye lot that she was willing to part with. Ravelers (and Ravelry) rock!

In summary: Final sweater good, ravelers awesome, pattern mucho bad.