• gaspard the storm cloud
• knit seamlessly
• cast on 4 sts less than back + front, knit in the round to underarms, elizabeth zimmerman faux seam but on the wrong side. think it is a bit more stable than just a line of rev stst
• knit upper fronts and upper back from bottom up, don’t cast off
• graft at shoulders
• k collar on garter sts on hold and remaining back sts
• k sleeves in round with 1 rev stst line for faux seam.
• k garter st cuffs back and forth, flat seam

6 june - finished decreases on second sleeve. 12 rows, faux seam, cuff, seam, ends to go!!

1 june - yay, got a sleeve done! after final decrease round, knit 12 rows in stst, drop last st, make same ez faux seam, turn, knit garter st cuff flat. assuming that the full skein was 100gm, the sleeve took 38gm.

31 may - di says just keep knitting. Phew!

30 may - the sleeves on this are really doing my head in. at 32 rows the sleeve measured 9.5cm. i’ve knit to the end of the decreases now (and the decreases are strange, they are steeper closer to the armscye; usually the rate of in/decrease is the other way around) and it only measures, maybe, 19cm? i have 14 rows of garter st to go which will add 3cm, but that’s only 22cm and the sleeve is supposed to be 24.5cm. so that would be 2.5cm extra to make up. and where to make it up, start or end of the sleeve? start would mean ripping the whole things back, again. which i will have to do anyway if i decide to change it. unh. will consult di tomorrow if i see her for lunch and may start the other sleeve and work it flat and see if there is any difference in row gauge.

28 may - working on sleeves again. I did rip them back. After sleeve cap shaping have completed 2 rows, 5 sets of 6 rows, So, 32 rows. Need to calculate length is sleeve in cms and rows to see how I am going for gauge. Then will consider how to proceed w decreases.

23 may - bottom. Have finished first set of decreases. One sleeve has 53 sts, the other has 55. They should both have 54. Will i redo them? yes, probably. Otherwise it will bother me forever.

22 may - have both sleeves on one needle. It’s not really long enough for comfortable knitting but will probably get easier as the st count decreases. Am working sleeve decreases. Don’t find pattern clear but a number of other ravellers have suggested that pattern directs to decrease every 4th and then every 2nd row, 5 times. So after the 2 rows straight, k 3 more rows then decreased, k, k2tog at start of round and ssk, k2 at end of round. That last st will become the faux seam.
21 may - other sleeve cap complete

20 may - short row shaping complete on first sleeve. plan to do sleeve cap of other sleeve and then knit both at the same time.

19 may - picked up sleeve stitches - why do i dislike picking up stitches so much?

16 may - completed 5 x decr every 2nd row for kangaroo pocket.
15 may - 20 ridges of garter st for the collar. kangaroo pocket - when will i ever learn?? when you pick up sts using a smaller needle size, be sure to switch back to the correct needle size for the knitting. otherwise you end up tinking back 2 and a bit rows of 100-odd sts bc you can’t bear the thought of ripping it all out and picking up the sts again. 2 decrease rows worked, 14 to go.

13 may - finished fronts and back, grafted shoulders

12 may - tech knitter cross over trick at division for sleeves. Cast off 1 st less than directed to compensate for st that would have been incorporated into non-existent side seam; also to make the rest of the numbers correct for the upper front. Paired decreases (ssk and k2tog) for armhole. Front and back to armhole complete and front armhole shaping done on one ball of yarn with a little bit more over. appear to be getting row gauge when working back and forth. still not entirely sure about the colourway. looks great in garter st. curiously, changing from knitting in the round to knitting back and forth, there doesn’t seem to be much difference in the effect.

11 may - knit 61 rows instead of 54 to get the length measurement in the body. will have to be sure to insert a couple of rows in top half too.

10 may 13 - happy w the 3.75mm needles. like the knitted fabric in garter st more than stocking st (no surprise there) but i think the pocket/collar attachment in garter will balance the project out nicely. am almost up to the armholes but not getting row gauge it seems so will knit to measurement rather than row number. will have to continue to take this into account as i continue to work the upper front and back.

8 may 13 - knit garter st edging. love how this colourway is working up. fabric is good too. will have to measure width; otherwise, may have to go down to 3.5mm. hope not.