Summary: love the cable and lace design, love the color pops, dislike the shoulder fit even though the construction was fun, dislike this expensive droopy shedding pilling madelinetosh pashmina yarn.

Ok ok maybe I was a bit harsh and discouraged with the finishing of this sweater. It did actually turn out well after adding in crocheted “seams” (details below), and that shouldn’t have been surprising given a seamless design in garter stitch with a super-soft yarn. My grandma received it and she loves it! It is soft and she loves the color it goes with everything, sleeves are just right. She says it’s the most beautiful hand knit sweater she’s ever received and of course her favorite color is blue :).

Yarn & Size
Yarn from Ravelry destash
Gauge after block is 18sts x 26rows
Making small (36”), she’s a 34” bust so I’ll add a few stitches here and there to make closer to 3” ease hopefully

Shoulders
Shoulder construction was totally new to me, took some time to realize the cast on edge is the top of the back
yo short rows -- prob should have done w&t as pattern says
1 extra repeat on sleeve inc = 44 sleeve sts
Co 8 under arms vs 6 = 45 fronts, 93 back
Now should be just under 1in extra for body and sleeves

Body
Body width looking good, armholes feel a little large hopefully will be ok… Maybe shouldn’t have done the extra sleeve inc…
Knit body to 30cm before starting cc and ribbing (shorter)
Bind off after 7cm ribbing, 2x2 tubular bo

Sleeves
Have 56 sleeve sts (4 extra), will follow sleeve decreases for size medium to end up with 42 sts at sleeve cuff (same as for small)
Sleeves simultaneously with magic loop
Width seems good despite seemingly large armholes, my gauge is tighter on sleeves.

Neck
back sts from provisional co has 1 extra st, which is perfect so didn’t have to adjust sts for ribbing.
Used crochet hook to chain together neck to bottom of cc stripe (rather than sewing)

2/26/14
Knitting and sewing done! It’s looking good! Started sewing buttons but don’t think color matches cc well :(. Will reassess in sunlight.

2/27/14
Decided to stick with buttons. Done sewing and blocking. Now just wait to dry….

3/2/14
I HATE IT!! It measures correctly when flat, but the garter st in pashmina stretches and sags when worn. It’s long and shapeless. Wrong yarn, but I think the garter stretching would happen regardless. And the shoulders are weird they’re too wide for set-in sleeves, and they pucker where the sleeve sts were picked up. The armholes feel too long but the sleeve decreases were too fast so the sleeves feel tight. I really hate it. Might frog some back on the body, but the cables would still like saggy and lifeless. So trying to do what I can with a crochet hook to tighten things up.

3/3/14
Ok I’m done with this one. Ended up slip crocheting inside side seams and button bands and twice under shoulders (picture 3rd from last). Used fingering yarn and small crochet hook. Back still sags but I can’t fix it. Still unhappy with shoulders.