12-13-2025

Used a cable cast on (Roxanne Richardson’s refined method) -- 240 stitches on a 50” Chiaogoo Red Twist cable. I am not yet working in the round for fear of twisting it. I plan to knit the bottom inch or two flat and then join in the round.

Only got one row knitted before it got dark. Will do a purl row and then the anti-curl row next.

12-14-2025

Did a purl row today during a quiet patch in a visit to family, but it got dark before I could begin the anti-curl row.

The yarn is fun/interesting. My sister threw the skein back to me after admiring it, and the loose yarn fluttered and floated like spiderwebs. Soft as silk and seemingly weightless.

12-15-2025

I did the anti-curl row today. You slip one knitwise then grab the top of the stitch two below, knit that through the back loop, then slide that first slipped stitch over the top. (Then, in my case, repeat 240 times.)

I used the instructions in the Instagram link up above as well as those from Norman at Nimble Needles. My contribution is a suggestion to skip tilting your work over endlessly to find the purl bump of the lower stitch. Instead, just have some strong backlighting while you work, and you can find the proper stitches in silhouette a lot easier (especially with fluffy yarns like mine).

12-16-2025

Knit 8 or 9 rows/rounds, including joining it in the round. Will try to take a picture tomorrow in the light.

12-17-2025

Just joined a second skein. The first got me a good sized swatch and about 3 inches of sweater.

12-19-2025

A little more than five inches now. Bottom is curling up a tad, but it stays down when I brush it back down (until it gets a few inches from the cables again).

Wish my cable was a little shorter to make it easier to move stitches around, but there’s nothing between 50” (using) to 37” (seems too short). Edit: the stitches are scrunched up a bit, definitely longer than the cord/needles, but they don’t move easily and often get stretched out on a curve.

12-21-2025

Just shy of 7 inches long now, and only a little left of skein number two.

12-22-2025

About 8 inches long/tall now. Added a third skein. Got a little over 5 inches from the second skein.

12-27-2025

9.5 inches - would be more, but a pipe burst in our attic on Christmas, and we’re dealing with the aftermath.

01-02-2026

Just finished my third skein (well, 2.6th skein because of swatch), which also produced about 5 inches of length.

01-05-2026

Found a knot while knitting today -- my first one with this yarrn -- so I used NimbleNeedles’ Twist & Weave method to rejoin the yarn after cutting off the knot.

01-13-2026

Just finished my fourth skein (3.6th)

01-21-2026

Mid-Project Blocking: Reached just a little more than 17 inches tall but could pull it to 19 inches (my target) with no strain or effort. Soaked and pinned it, only tugging enough to get edges straight and no slack in fabric. It only grew half an inch, to 17.5 tall. It is 37 inches wide. My target is 34, and the next size up is 38.

Still have 27.6 grams left on fifth skein.

“Fun” Side Quest: Tried the nifty safety-pin-through-the-holes-in-my-cable method of blocking the ends for soaking. Admired my project. Walked to the sink to start soaking and realized almost half the stitches were now off the cable because the safety pin popped open. Grr. Fortunately, this is a very well behaved yarn, and only one stitch had dropped, and only then by a single level. I was able to get them all back on the needles, make sure they weren’t twisted, and then move everything to a rubber stitch holder like I should have to begin with.

01-30-2026

Added the sixth skein today, about 4 inches into the Front: Divide Work for Armholes section. Still amazed at how invisible and secure this method by NimbleNeedles is.

02-04-2026

Ready to start binding off for the neckline, hopefully tomorrow. Watched a lot of videos today on sloped bind offs and think I know what to do (my first time doing such a thing).

Videos watched included:

Tidy Neck Bind Off (Eliminate gap & sloped bind off), by KnitRelief Designs

The Sloped Bind Off, by Mimi at Pastiche Knitwear

Binding Off in the Middle of a Row // Technique Tuesday

02-05-2026

Did the 10 rows of Right Front Shaping. Next, on to Right Shoulder Shaping (after some time spent studying tutorials on short rows).

02-06-2026

Finished Right Shoulder Shaping (using German Short Rows). Next, on to Left Front!

Used this video on substituting GSR for W&T.

02-07-2026

I finished shaping the left shoulder/neckline and am all done with the front.

Just laid out flat on the bed, no stretching, it measures 27 inches long (from bottom edge to highest peak of shoulder, right before the neckline begins) and 35 inches wide (along bottom edge). That’s longer than the pattern calls for, but longer might be better with my bustline. We’ll see. I’ve already thought about doing a folded hem, so I can take it up if it’s too long.

Next, finishing the back!

02-08-2026

Last night I did the two increase rows on the back and messed something up big time on both ends. Fumbled around with it, but I was tired, and it was dark. Came back to it this morning and just tinked back two rows and started over. All fine now (I think).

From there, I’ve done another half dozen or so rows on the back, working toward a total of 24 1/4” from bottom hem. Nice TV knitting.

02-15-2026

Added the seventh skein today. About an inch and half to knit in stockinette before getting to the garter and short rows on the back.

02-20-2026

Haven’t knit much this week -- migraines, etc. -- but I’m now ready to Shape Upper Back and Shoulders

02-23-2026

Woohoo!!! I finished the body and did the Three Needle Bind Off (using Norman from NimbleNeedles’s method of moving all stitches to a single needle)! Which means, for the first time, I was able to try on an item of clothing I knit. I grinned like a fool.

Still have 17.1 grams of my seventh skein.

The fit is pretty good, from what I can tell. The yarn is amazing; I’m still in love with it.

03-01-2026

Skipped neckline for now and went straight to sleeves. I’ve knit 4 inches for the left sleeve (all decreases done) and am on to the final two inches plus 5 rows of ribbing.

Started with US 8 tips on a combined 5” + 6” cable. It was a bit long, though, so I put the stitches on a holder and changed to a single 8” cable, and I changed my left needle to a US 6 to make stitches move more smoothly.

This was my first time using my Chiaogoo shorties on a real project. I’m starting to get used to them, but my hands are TIRED for now. I didn’t realize how much I used the needle for stability and leverage until now.

03-14-2026

It’s a construction zone here again with drywall and carpet guys, etc. Not a lot of knitting done.

I did finish the second sleeve today. Used the Tubular Bind Off for both. Somewhere in all of that, I began a new ball of yarn, most of which is still unused. I also have a few tiny meatballs of yarn leftover from the bind offs and one small frogging of a too-tight section.

For the main part of the sleeves, I used a US 8 needle for my right needle and a US 6 for the left to make stitches move easier. For the 1x1 ribbing and tubular bind off, I used a US 6 on the right and a US 4 on the left.

Next, on to the neckline!

04-16-2026

I’m stalling, should have had this done ages ago, but I think I just hit peak stress in my non-knitting life and so have no further bandwidth to choose what kind of neckline I want (stockinette rolled or ribbed) and have thus just set it aside until I can breathe again.

05-08-2026

I finally gathered the nerve to pick up the neckline stitches, and I knit the 8 rounds then cast off the usual way. All that’s left now is to fake a second line of garter at the bottom of front-left and to block it.

05-09-2026

Too tired to annotate adequately. I spent the morning using backstitch to approximate the appearance of the garter stitches I missed while knitting the right front, and then came the long soak and the pinning. Pre-soak, the sweater was 35” wide (armpit to armpit) and 25” long. I pinned it out to more of an XL size, though (38” wide) and I don’t know how long I pinned it. I think 28 inches. But it will probably shorten/shrink some. My sleeves were determined to be 5” (laid flat, not circumference), but I pinned them to around 6”.

Coming soon: final photos and a more concise tl;dr top summary of the project.

05-11-2026

Weighed the final sweater today: 377.1 grams, which Ravelry says is ~7.54 skeins.