Took approximately 43 hours to knit this sweater, not including weaving in ends and blocking. Engaging yet easy knit! Planning on making a second inspired by the colors in a vintage afghan knit by my great-aunt.

This is my first time using Lamana Como & Como Cashmere; it’s so lightweight, soft and springy! Surprisingly good 100% wool choice for a summer garment.

MC: Lamana Como 72 (light pink)
CC: Lamana Como 5 M (grey)
AC: Lamana Como Cashmere 78 (ruby)

First swatch on US 5 = 21 sts/4”; too loose. Swatch shrank about .5” vertically after blocking and seemed to grow a bit horizontally.

Second swatch on US 3 = 24 sts/4”; too tight. US 4s it is. My second swatch did not seem to shrink vertically after blocking at all.

As usual, my row gauge is too dense. It looks like US 4 will give me 38 rows/4” (pattern row gauge is 28 rows/4”). I may have to make adjustments to yoke depth because of this.

Day 1: approx. 5.5 hours
Used up one ball of yarn and finished Increase Row #5. Because of my dense row gauge, added one extra row to each plain stockinette section in between increase rows throughout yoke.

Day 2: approx. 8.5 hours
Through yoke Increase Row #9. Finishing increase rounds before colorwork took approximately 6.75 hours. Colorwork section took approximately 4.25 hours.

Day 3: approx. 9.5 hours
Through four repeats of lace side detail on body. Knit 4 plain rows after final increase before sleeve divide to achieve schematic yoke depth. Finishing increase rounds after colorwork and dividing for sleeves took approximately 7 hours.

Day 4: approx. 9.75 hours
Knit to 8” on body and took a break to complete sleeves when I was at the end of a ball. No mods. Sleeves took slightly less than 3 hours.

Day 5: approx. 9.75 hours.
Finished body and ribbing.

If making this for myself, I would shorten the body significantly (this is low hip length on me; maybe 4” shorter?) and start decreasing sts in the sleeves immediately after picking them up again and/or make elbow-length sleeves to prevent them from flaring out underneath the colorwork section.