I saw my co worker knitting one of these and needed a little pick me up……need I say more…?
I choose the BT Shelter solely based on the color. That blue was just calling out to me. And I found the perfect buttons right away, too. Had I given it more thought I may have chosen a softer yarn with more drape.
I meant to only start after finishing both the pair of socks and the scarf I was working on, then I thought “why not at least wind up a couple of the skeins”? Then I thought “why not at least cast on” since no matter which size you work up, you cast on the same number of stitches. Long story short, one thing led to another and before I knew it, I had done five rows.
This pattern pulls you right in
I used US#10 for CO and through row 8 of the raglan increases. First repeat of rows 1-8 I used #10 on WS and #10 1/2 on RS for second repeat I used #10 1/2.

BTW When you divide body and sleeves there is no need for a stitch marker for beginning of a round, as this is knitted flat. After all it’s a cardigan not a sweater.

UNDERARM: When dividing body and sleeves I used the provisional cast on for the additional stitches for the underarm. That way I had live stitches instead of having to pick up stitches when I worked on the sleeves.
I also found this fantastic video on how to avoid holes at the underarm by Suzanne Bryant

2.16.: Let me take back what I said about the yarn. It feels quite lovely and lofty on the 10 1/2‘s . I like the somewhat rustic feel.

I may add pockets as in the Viatori vest.

2.18. I did add pockets and since this is knitted top down and I needed to increase the number of sts for a slanted sideways pocket, I added sts by YO’s. I could have off-set them in pairs of three like on the yoke, but didn’t think about it in time. Still like it this way.
I joined the bottom of the pockets with the body in the first row of ribbing ( three needle join).

LENGTH: I wanted to make this longer, but in the end only made it 1” longer, starting after 11” (56 rows) from the underarm. Making this decision took a lot of fittings and thinking and I hope I will be happy with it. The nice thing about a top down cardigan is that one can easily undo the bind off and make it longer or shorter….

HEM: I followed the tubular bind off directions by Leslie Ann Bestor ( 54 step by step cast on and bind off methods). And I messed it up ; somehow I was one stitch off. After carefully unpicking the bind off ( I was 1/3 done!), I also undid two of the four set up rows ( K1, sl1) as a total of two set up rows seems enough in this thick yarn. When I tried again, I just divided 10 or so sts on two needles at the time to ensure myself that I was on the right track. With the first two stitches being knit stitches I bound off one the regular way , then did the Kitchener stitch over the rest.

SLEEVES: getting same gauge in the round on US#10.75
Used the sewn tubular bind off in the round just like knitknotes23. And the sleeves are done ( 2.26.).

BUTTONBAND: When binding this off I used the same video instructions as knitnotes23 for the sewn bind off Worked flat and promptly realized what I did wrong on the sleeves. When prompted to go through the second stitch knitwise and leave it on, then through the first stitch knitwise and take it off, I went through both knitwise at the same time dropping the first one off the needle. However doing it that way, you only get one , not two bars of yarn across the edge and it looks more like a single dash rather than a knit stitch rolling over the edge. What I had to do was to go through the second stitch knitwise all the way through, then bring the needle around the first stitch back to the front and go through that stitch pulling it off the needle at this point. However I will not redo the sleeves. They look fine and I am much more concerned to get this finished and wear it . I am almost there

2.28. Finished the buttonbands.

2.29. NECKBAND: Finished the neckband. I finally had the sewn bind off down without looking and this is probably neater than the button bands, but I wish I would have followed my instinct and done the last two rows on a smaller needle before binding off or do two slip stitch prep rows as for the hem, because it seems a tad big as is. It’s not just that it flares a little, but also because you work over the same 95 sts no matter which size, it seems a bit large for someone with a smaller build, more narrow shoulders.
If I am not happy after blocking, I may cut one strand before the bind off rather than unpicking that , put the last row back on my needles and redo the neck. We shall see.

3.2. -3.3. I did exactly what I said I would not do and carefully unpicked the neckband bind off, thus I am back to where I was on Saturday morning.
I took out two rows, reknitted one row on #7, but always working the first and last six button band stitches on 8’s, then I worked two rows on #6 as set-up rows with slipped sts. Separated the knits and purls onto two needles and did the Kitchener stitch. I am MUCH happier with the result and so glad I did the extra work.
I am also especially glad to see how durable the yarn is. With all the knitting, unpicking ( especially over the sewn bind off) and reknitting it did not break once. And I had enough yarn to finish the retake without having to join new yarn, I actually had about 18 inches left.
Used leftover sock yarn from one of Tony’s socks to sew on the buttons.