Final Notes
Jan 2014: I don’t think I’m ever going to finish this sweater. I cast off the last sleeve, and realized that I just don’t like it. I mean, the pattern is gorgeous and I enjoyed knitting it. But I just don’t wear cropped sweaters anymore, and the colour is just too bright. The pictures don’t show the brightness at all - this is more of a bright grass green, not the more muted shade my camera keeps showing.

I am happy with the fit though.

I’d like to redo this sweater is a more neutral colour, and lengthen it to hip length. But for now, I’m calling this sweater done. Maybe I’ll find someone who’d appreciate it more, and then I’ll finally sew in the ends and block it.

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I can’t believe how quick this sweater is flying off my needles! I’m not a quick knitter, but I’ve only been working on this for about 3 weeks, and I’ve only got 1.25 sleeves to finish and I’m done!

A few things. I used TECHknitting’s SYTK method for SSK decreases, which I’ve found to pair much nicer with the K2tog (for me at least).

Mods:

• CO for the 37.5” size to account for my narrow shoulders and 38” high bust, but switching to the 41” size for lengths and at bust for my 41.5” bust.

• For the increases on the 1st back, did one extra set of increases to have a total stitch count of 74 (instead of 72 for size 37.5” and 78 for size 41”). On the front pieces, I started with size 37.5” but then used the size 41” instructions, doing extra double increase rows to increase the stitch count to the larger size.

• I made the waist a bit wider since the sweater measurements for size 41” were a bit too small for me there. My starting stitch count was 4 stitches smaller than the pattern had because of the narrower back alterations. I stopped decreasing after hitting 148 stitches (instead of 144).

• I shortened the body a bit. After decreasing to 148 stitches (after the required 6 decrease sets - row 7-12) and knitting straight for 2 more rounds, I started the ribbing. This wound up being too short though, so I pulled it back and knit an additional 4 rows before ribbing. MUCH better length (although still a couple of rows shorter than the original size called for. I think - I really messed around with the sizing here to suit my body better, so I’m not 100% sure.

• For the neckband, I used the size M stitch count (76 on both sides and 34 across the neck) in a 2/3 ratio.

• Sleeves stitches were picked up 1/2 ratio (!!!) around most of the armhole, with 8 stitches picked up straight across the CO stitches at the underarm. I picked up the amount of stitches for size 41”, but then only decreased to 60 stitches (instead of 56) after the short rows to bring the sleeve to 14” instead of 13” to fit my 15” upper arm.

• For sleeve shaping, I followed the size 43” instructions to get the slightly shorter sleeve length I want. The sleeves are a little loose around the forearms, but I’m just going to go with it. Next time, I might decrease a bit more aggressively after I get past the upper arms, since they’re quite a bit larger than my forearms.