12-08-2015- Started short row section of sweater back. Had to rip out a few rows because I skipped one, but otherwise seems to be working :)

01-05-2016- Last month, I blocked this (without yet having knitted long sleeves) and I’m not too happy with the product. The neckline is too big; I can wiggle a little bit and it comes down both shoulders. The bust area is also much too roomy. My armpit is actually a few inches higher than the garment’s. And I made the entire thing too long, but I can accept total blame for that one and that’s an easy fix anyway.

It hasn’t been totally clear what I should do so I haven’t done anything for the last month. I’m thinking of frogging it :( and starting over. But this time, I would make the neckline significantly smaller and separate out the stitches for the sleeves one pattern repeat earlier, besides making it much shorter. I’m also considering going down a needle size.

Since I still have some yarn left for the sleeves, I think it makes most sense to just start the whole thing over without frogging, knitting those four skeins, and then comparing products.

02-04-2016- Still on hiatus here… It’s likely I’ll wait a good while before working on this beast again. Gotta wait until it isn’t painful to frog it.

06-01-2016- Starting this over again, round 2! I still have 4 remaining skeins I can knit with before I need to start ripping out the existing beast. I’m planning on trying this on MANY times before it is complete! I’m also doing several mods, will elaborate when it is finished so I know what I end up doing.

07-03-2016- Finally finished! It fits and I feel great. I first knitted with the unused skeins, and then unraveled the first attempt one skein at a time. I had to undo the first skein when I realized the warped yarn was noticeable in the knitting. Then I wound each skein into a hank and soaked it with Woolite and cool water in a sink for ten minutes and let dry overnight to get all the kinks out. After rolling it back into balls, it worked out great! Yarn as good as new!

07-29-2016- Finally got around to weaving in the yarn ends. Now it’s really done! I don’t think I’m going to bother blocking this, it ended in disaster last time.

Modifications-

Here are the modifications my sweater. I went down a needle size, lowered the stitch count, changed the high-low aspect, and made long sleeves.

Body:

• CO 124 sts with US 4.
• Change to US 5 after twisted rib. Place markers: after 39 sts, 23 sts, 39 sts, 23 sts.
• Adjustments to stitch patterns at edges between sleeves and body improvised.
• Slide off sleeve stitches in normal place (round 57).
• For body, k 10 inches St st.

Short rows:

• 6 rows (3 on each side) in front, k
  over front side, 10 rows (5 on each
  side) in back. There are 3 sts
  separated b/t front and back short
  rows.
• Then k 1.5 rows St st, then 1x1
  twisted rib, still with US 5.
• Bind off very loosely, but I wish I
  did it even looser. I could stand to
  do more short rows next time, it’s
  barely noticeable.

Sleeves:

• Pick up slipped sts, plus 3 extra
  casted on while slipping off = 56 sts.
• Next rows: k all, k all, p all, p all, k all, arrow chart over 12 rows, k
  all, p all, p all (dec 2 this row), k all, k all, p all, p all.
• Then k 11 inches St st, decreasing 2
  on either side of middle underside
  every 1.5 inches 8 times.
• Then change to US 4, 1x1 (non twisted) rib for 2.5 inches, then cast off.