Helpful Diagrams & Pics from Ravelry Users’ project pages:
Thank you juliayork & biroulegem & dethnitter for your wonderful diagrams and pictures!!!
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/juliayork/hitofude-cardigan - Diagram A, B, C

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Biroulegem/hitofude-cardigan - French construction diagram taken off Pinterest.

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/dethnitter/hitofude-cardi... - Pic on best way to block sleeves

Yarn:
Begin with 300g & 151g skeins of 4 ply in Black-Gray cashmere & 131g skein of 2 ply in Teal cashmere. Combination of the heathered teal with the black-gray resulted in a dark marled teal color, beautiful depth of color.

I will have 6-ply but the cashmere is very light weight.

Loving my new lazy susan yarn caddy!!! Received 3/16/2015 from hubby on his trip to New York. Bought on Ebay and shipped to our NY address for about 45 USD. Now I just need to convince him that I need 2 more!

PLANNING: Disecting Schematic on pg. 5 of pattern

Arielle’s Measurements (12 yr. old, 5’5” tall, 103 lbs.)
Used Shirley Paden’s Knitwear Design Workshop as reference.

Wingspan (from 2” pass elbows): 34” (a)
[From left sleeve edge to right sleeve edge]
Upper Arm Width: 8.5” (1/2 of measurement = b)
[“b” m< on schematic - after sleeve has been folded in half, Arielle’s b = 4.25”]
Sleeve Length: 12” (c)
[Measured at underarm to desired length]
Neck Width: 6” (d)
Length from neck to mid-thigh: 30” (b+e+1 = f)
[“e” m< on schematic - from underarm to hem of RF/LF]
[Arielle wants this cardi long]
Bust Circumference: 32”, approx. 16” for back width (g)
Shoulder Width: 14”
Armhole Depth: 5” + 1” = 6”
RF - around back of Neck - LF - Across Back: 40”
[Shoulder Width + 1/2 Bust Circ. + Act. Armhole Depth x 2]
[14” + 16” + (5” x 2) = 40”]
Note: letters within () correspond to pattern schematic

Gauge: Gauging on US 4 & 5.
I’ll decide via aesthics than getting gauge. If my gauge doesn’t match, it’s ok, I’ll use the schematic as my guide for fit. It’s all about the process for me. I can’t wait to start on this but must gauge first!!
3/20/2015:
Gauging on US 5 & US 4, I like how US 4 looks before blocking. For gauge did provisional CO using crochet chained CO over knitting needle, incorporated edge sts to see how they look and left live sts on waste yarn so I can do 3-needle BO to see how that looks. So far so good.
I will use my gauge and follow the schematic to get idea of how many sts to CO.
Target Gauge: 20 sts x 32 rows = 4” (Chart A)
3/22/2015:
Pre-block Measurement: 24 sts x 33 rows = 4” (US 4)
Washed Gauge via baby shampoo and a bit of vinegar
Blocking via laying on towel, no pinning
3/2015:
Post-block Measurement: 23 sts x 32 rows = 4” (US 4)

Size:
Arielle’s size - XS, with various adjustments for sleeve length and overall cardi length. CO using size xs as base, then use size S pattern instructions for 1x1 ribbing for waist & shoulders (192 sts) and lower body (216 sts). Eventhough Arielle is XS, I accomodated for gauge difference in stitch count (this is important for back of neck and underarm (hate it when too tight)) and for the fact that Arielle is a growing teen.

KNITTING:
3/2015:
Upper Body & Sleeves:
CO 216 sts on US 4 for X-small but adjusted # of stitches casted on to get longer sleeve length, adjusted for difference of gauge and for custom body measurement (growing teen)
Chain A: 48 sts + 24 sts = 72 sts
(add 18 sts for longer sleeve length & 6 sts for body width)
Chain B: 132 sts + 24 - 12 sts = 144 sts
(Addition same as Chain A plus decrease of 12 sts to account for smaller neck measurement)
Do Chart A: 11x to get more roomy fit than desired 9” length (to compensate for teen growth).
(Note: upper arm width - 8.5” (b m< 4.25”))
Wanted more room at underarm for deeper armhole depth.
Blocked before BO. Did preliminary fit check on Arielle before BO via pinning on Arielle. Did a combination of 3 needle and JSSSBO BOs to get a very stretchy BO for sleeves. I added a YO step when doing 3 needle BO; i.e. do JSSSBO but instead of 1 st being BO at a time you are BO off 1 st from 2 needles together (a k2tog off 2 needles).

1x1 Rib for Shoulder & Waist:
After BO, did 1x1 rib for 1.5” (wanted 1x1 rib area to be thicker), did some decreases to get down to 192 sts. (Round 1).
1x1 Rib for total 12 Rounds.
Aside Note 1:
If I wanted to do a Shrug, I would omit lower body and just continue in ribbing until get desired length around (ala Stephanie Japel’s Two-Tone Shrug). I would alter the ribbing from 1x1 to a 2x2 baby cable rib (my preference).
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/two-tone-ribbed-s...
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/LilithDow/two-tone-ribbed...
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/LilithDow/two-tone-ribbed...
The only problem is you will drastically change the look…Hitofude in concept only. Even by me changing when and where to start the L/F increases in the lower body resulted the lost of the Hi-Lo feature.

Lower Body:
7/19/2015:
I had to put this down in April, I was scared to continue on since instructions were confusing. A bit of depression from health issues stymied any enjoyable knitting.
The instructions when read through seemed confusing, had to draw it out on paper to visually see what it should look like. After further thought, the large section of “kxx” area is the back of the skirt, make sure the markers are in the right place here since this area should line up to upper back. All “kfb” instructions are for the L/R fronts.
Since my stitch count is different and Arielle prefer a less wide cardi, we decided to do chart A 9x before going to chart B. This also minimized the look of the Hi-lo hem. Did several preliminary fit checks by putting half of stitches on seperate circular needles. Need to account that lower section is pre blocked and will bloom in length and width after blocking. Use after blocking gauge to calculate how many repeats to do to get target length.
7/24/2015:
Front Body Increases:
L/R: chart B: R1-16 (1x), R9-16 (2x); Back: chart A (4x)
L/R: chart C: R1-16 (1x), R9-16 (2x); Back: chart A (4x)
L/R: chart D: R1-16 (1x), R9-16 (6x); Back: chart A (8x)
Did not do chart E, width of skirt was wide enough. If wanted length longer I would repeat R9-16 of chart D for L/R fronts and chart A for the back until desired length.
8/7/2015:
Hem: 1x1 rib for 9 rows. Did JSSSBO for bind off.
All knitting done.
Pre-Block Pics taken. I think I went over board on photos.

Pre-Block measurements:
Cardi Length: 33” (nape of neck to back hem, worn)
Wingspan: 41” (L sleeve cuff to R sleeve cuff, laid flat)
Lower Hem Width: 46” (relaxed, not stretched, laid flat)
FO weight: Approx. 367g (based on remaining yarn wt.)

8/8/2015:
Aside Note 2:
3 st. 25” I-cord. as a closure (requested by Arielle). Made I-cord to be used as closure, will not afix to FO so it can be moved for a growing teen. Will use the eyelets closes to edging for placement. I prefer and suggest she not use I-cord but rather use a pretty leather belt around cardi to prevent the eyelets used by an I-cord from stretching. Pics forthcoming both ways, need to get a nice wide belt.
Blocking:
Wet block using shampoo.
Blocked out by laying out to dry, did not pin out (this cashmere yarn does not like to be severly blocked since it tends to bounce back. It was better for me to do the math for fit rather than do blocking as a means to get fit).

Post-Block measurement:
8/9/2015:
Cardi Length: 36.5” (nape of neck to back hem, worn)
Wingspan: 48” (L sleeve cuff to R sleeve cuff, laid flat)
Lower Hem Width: 53” (relaxed, not stretched, laid flat)
FO weight: forthcoming, will need to wait until get back to China.
Post-Block Pics w/ I-cord ties forthcoming. Pic styled with belt forthcoming.
Will do secondary post-block measurement after a few months of wear. This yarn tends to bounce back a bit.