I wanted to make this sweater with a looser gauge than recommended, because I tend to get too warm in tightly knit fabric. I also wanted the sweater to be a little oversized, as I’m most comfortable in loose garments.

I picked the size closest to my gauge and knit through the top of the yoke. However, the neck was too large, and the shoulders were too tight. Also, because my row gauge was larger than the pattern’s, the colorwork pattern was too long. I wasn’t sure what to do about that.

I ripped everything back and started over. However, I decided to make the sweater bottom-up using Elizabeth Zimmerman’s formula for bottom-up yoke sweaters (Knitting Without Tears). Something I hadn’t done before.

So, I didn’t end up using the Jennifer Steinglass’s instructions at all -- just the graph for the colorwork, which is what drew me to the sweater in the first place.

I used the larger needle when knitting the colorwork, as the gauge was quite a bit smaller than my stockinette gauge.

Also, knowing that the colorwork pattern would be too long to fit my yoke, I had to figure out which rows I could cut out of it without seriously disrupting the design. (I cut out about .75” of the design).

All of this was quite adventurous because I’ve just taken up knitting again this last year after a 40-year hiatus, and I’m not an experienced knitter.

Overall, I’m very pleased with the result. It fits well, is very comfy, and I love the pretty yoke design.