I knit my first gauge swatch. Ooooh. Thaaaats why everything I knit turns out much too small. To compensate, I’m using a thicker yarn, upping the needle size by one and am knitting a size larger (L).

26.2.12: Finally seamed the sides. The body is a perfect fit! SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

12.6.12: After an extended vacation in the UFO pile, it’s done.

Mods:

• Added an extra 2 decrease and increases at the waist to give it a bit more shape
• knit approx. 4” of cowl with size 7’s, and right side of st pattern facing out so the right side would show on the parts the cowl didn’t cover, and it wouldn’t be see-through , then switched to size 9’s and knit st pattern facing in so the right side would show when the cowl was turned over, and so it would be drapey.

Parts I found difficult:

• seaming the hems - I couldn’t get my finger in to find the bars between stitches;
• sewing the pleats - they’re pretty uneven too.

Errata:
I’ll try to explain the first pattern error with symbols. Hope this helps anyone having difficulty with the decreases after the hem.

|=st
^=decrease (k2tog)
to evenly decrease 3 times, instead of doing something like this:
^|||^||||^|||
do this
||^|||^|||^||

I’ll post detail pictures of the sweater…eventually. If you have any questions feel free to ask.

Please pardon the awkward self-pic.