The yarn and pattern were a gift from Julesmako
Dreaming of better times while making this (during the covid 19 epidemic)..
The cone weights 495 g including the plastic core before starting.

4.3. Restarted on smaller needles. Originally I thought this was knitted from the bottom up ( I need to read patterns more carefully). Based on that I was going to decrease the needle size down from 10.75 as I go along. I only realized because the stst sections curl and in the pictures they don’t.
Then, comparing this with the boxy lacy top I knitted on size 8 needles, I see that I am working with the same number of stitches and I had knitted that one completely on 8’s. I may increase needle size depending on how it looks as I go.
Long story short, restarting today.

4.4. I decided to make this a gift for my future DIL who is presently working hard in a local hospital as a RN. Now I enjoy working on it even more thinking of a brighter future.
After working the front and back separately for 22 rows, I joined them to knit in the round keeping the two “seam stitches” on each side in garter stitch for a mock seam.

4.5. Took the joining round out and knitted the front and back a little longer before joining. It looked a little snug for the arms ( remember, I am making it a little smaller, so the arms will start higher up on the biceps). I rather do a teensy bit extra seaming than find that it is too snug. I follow the measurements of my Boyfriend sweater. Knitting in the round now on US#9.

Six shale pattern repeats total and some short rows over the 29 center sts of the back to avoid having the back ride up.

The Yarnhas a tendency to twist and make the sts look all wonky. I am hoping that it will straighten smooth out when I block it. It also feels very harsh on my hands.

Here is the most helpful reply I received when I asked one Facebook ravelry group “ Ravelry Free Patterns ( knitting only)” how to remedy the twisting of the garment.
This advice is from Kathleen Kelm.
“ We weaver’s know how to soften linen to improve its drape and soften it: freeze it wet. The expansion of water in freezing breaks some of the connective tissue in the linen. In a garment or towel, soft is usually good. I saturate a linen piece, then pop it into a deep freeze for a few days. Let it partly thaw on the ironing board bridges.Then I iron it, no steam setting, dry. The steam puffing from the cold fabric also breaks some of the fiber. You get more of the soft hand of antique linen. Linen fibers were the water carrying channels for moving water to the leaves of the flax plant. Linen loves water. Ice is nice too.”

My plan is to follow her advice once I finished the project. Meanwhile I wet blocked it which helped some. Then I divided the yarn into two equal balls and I am now working on the sleeves two at a time. I picked up the number of sts for the largest size (56) and will do additional decreases to get down to a medium size. I am also planning to work the sleeve edge similar to the hem of the body before binding off. This is what I did:
Row1 Purl
Row 2 Knit
Row 3 Purl
Row 4 Yo, k2tog
Row 5 Purl
Row 6 Knit
Row 7 Purl
Row 8-11 knit
Row 12, 13 Purl
Bind off knitwise using Jenni’s stretchy bind off

April 18 Finished with knitting, doing a preliminary blocking of the sleeves to straighten the stitches, then I will do the freeze blocking as suggested by Kathleen.

Final blocking/ softening This final step is tricky as I want the garment to be soft, but not limp and firm, but not stiff. I thought about playing with a swatch to see how exactly the linen reacts to the different manipulations. Instead I plunged right in.
I achieved the perfect drape and softness ( too bad you can’t tell in the pictures). This is what I did:

1. Soak for one hour
2. Put in the freezer for one day
3. Iron on linen setting to still damp to the touch
4. Put in the dryer for 12 minutes.

VERY happy with the result.