NO idea why Mota yarn is listed as DK by Ravelry--maybe due to technical measurements, but it knits up at worsted, nowhere near DK. More like worsted or even light aran.

Bought 7 skeins and ended up with 3 leftover!
Final sweater:

Mota: 420 grams
Cautiva (collar lining): 13.16 grams
Buttons (8): 37.48 grams (purchased at The Cashmere Goat in Camden, Maine
Total including Cautiva and buttons: 471 grams

Some of the balls must have weighed a bit over the stated 100 grams, because I used 4 grams of the 5th ball but my swatch (which I didn’t unravel to use) was 11 grams…. So if you want to keep your swatch, you can squeak this out in 4 balls. If you prefer not to risk the yarn chicken winning, get 5, especially if you do both sides of my collar with the Mota.

The good stuff:

Saw this on Thea’s IG in 2023 before Rhinebeck. Saw the yarn at Wool & Folk (that disastrous festival in the rain the day before Rhinebeck opened) but didn’t snag enough balls before they sold several so waited a couple months until they had it in stock at https://wooldreamersus.com . Then waited, a goodly while, until the pattern finally came out. Life and several other sweaters and travel intervened and I FINALLY got it started. Love, love, LOVE!

About the buttonholes: Ysolda’s one-row buttonhole tutorial is OK, but I found Andrea Mowry’s YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3W-09aS7FSM tutorial much more useful. I couldn’t figure out what to do with the tail of yarn (leave it where it is before the cast-offs for the lower edge).

Distance between buttonholes: Irksome. I never have a clue what buttons until I’m done, so I guessed at a 4-stitch buttonhole. This one-row buttonhole delightfully does not stretch and bag out, it is pretty firm. If you want BIG buttons, you may prefer a 5-stitch buttonhole. I made mine 10 garter ribs (20 rows) apart, ending up with 8 buttons total, 2 closer together at the collar because that’s how it worked out!

I centered the first one in the 8 garter stitches in the band. And it looks off-center. So on the 2nd one I did the slip stitch, knit 3 stitches, THEN began the buttonhole. Looks much better. And if anyone gets down near my abdomen to examine my buttonholes to see if they match, they have a problem: Me LOL!

I decided to do the buttonholes every 20 rows, starting about 1 1/4” above cast on row. This works out perfectly because that is a cable row, so easy to remember when to do it (as well as count 10 garter ridges--the first ridge is the row that includes the previous buttonhole).

Pattern is easy to remember once you get the first repeat done. Be SURE to not do what I did: accidentally use the same chart for both sides of the front. I discovered this 13 rows after the first cable. I managed to (OMG, I’m getting better at this stuff) unravel 16 stitches down 13 rows and re-knit it, cabling correctly! I used DPNs and, if needed, a crochet hook to work the last stitch or two. I then used the tip of the DPN to even out the yarn so it wasn’t tight on the right and loose on the left. I re-worked all rows from the front (the joy of sliding a DPN from one end to the other). Hope this helps.

Once you get going the pattern is easy peasy to memorize. Using locking stitch markers (light bulb pins are my best friends), I marked the crossover rows in the purl stitch just before the pattern, which made it easy to count the repeat distance/rows.

Modifications:

Decreased for sleeve every 8th row (was in pattern) as a-I dislike tight sleeves and b-counting 7th row when cables are even number repeats was a mind game, so every 8th row on a knit row worked easily. Made sleeves longer to fit my arms and, I find that my sleeves get shorter with time no matter what, and expect the rib row pattern will have a propensity to shorten between washings. By making them a little longer my wrists will still be covered.

Collar: this was the BIG change. I have short hair and live in Maine, so I wanted a standup collar. Instead of casting off the tops of the button bands, I put those stitches on holders. I placed the first button band stitches on the needle, picked up the appropriate number of stitches for the collar (which I then worked in 1x1 ribbing), then placed the stitches from the second button band on the needle. I continued the garter rib for the button band and worked 3 1/8” of 1x1 ribbing in the Mota (a worsted weight). I had Cautiva also from Wooldreamers in the same color--it is more like a DK weight which means less bulky. It is brighter than the Mota (different dye lot obviously), but using the same needles continued down to the seamline just long enough that the last 2 rows in the Mota roll over at the top and the Cautiva is entirely on the inside. Joined using a stretchy bind off where you join to the seamline as you go. I was able to work four buttonholes so that they line up (outside and inside) and sewed them together to create a buttonhole all the way through both layers.

Shoulder seam: in Thea’s link she has two lines of cast off seamed together, which I prefer to the single row she used on this pattern. I think the seamline is about the same visual weight / thickness as the 2 rows of reverse stockinette. See photo (to be uploaded fairly soon).

The photo of my measuring notes tells the tale of a tad snug as knit, blocked wide, then retracts a bit when dry. Luckily, the dried feels much nicer than the as-knit fit. The swatch and the sweater definitely relaxed after wet blocking. I went by my swatch, and by the end of the sweater it was only 1/2” positive ease and I prefer more--not what I had hoped, but at least wearable. However, wet blocking REALLY helped. See photo to compare measurements as knit, pinned to block and still a bit damp, and blocked/unpinned/dry. I would have preferred picking up 4 to 6 more stitches with no decreases until the elbow, but not inclined to frog both sleeves almost back to the start!