Ordered the yarn at Rhinebeck and saw both the Mason Dixon ladies and Norah Gaughan herself at the book signing, so 3 Rhinebeck connections = 1 new sweater.

Gauge after blocking with a 4 mm needle is 20 stitches, which is the pattern gauge. With a 4.5 mm needle, gauge is 18. Using the 4 mm needle.

pics taken when I still needed 3 more buttons. Now acquired and installed!

Mods

• long sleeves
• add cable motif (part at least) to sleeves.
• add bust darts. 3.5 inches. Turn at 40 then 42 etc. to 50. 12 extra rows.
• add waist shaping. 3 decreases 8 rows apart; knit 8 rows; increase 7 times, 8 rows apart.
• add length

Sleeves: pick up 16 including 2 gap stitches. After 15 rows, decrease 2. Decrease every 15 2 times total (60 stitches, then every 12th row 2 times (56 stitches) then every 10th row 4 times (48 stitches) then start cable pattern.

Cuff- start after after decreasing to 48 stitches, plus one extra row. I used the middle 27 stitches of both my sleeve, and the chart. Started at row 37 of the pattern with 2 purls outside the cable and worked down to row 6 of the chart. Not adding stitches for cables as I want the decrease. Note that you are working the pattern in reverse, as you are knitting top-to-bottom and it is easiest to just focus on the cables that form the oval and see if they are heading towards the center, or back out. Because I was keeping just a couple of purls outside the cables, when the chart called for a decrease, I didn’t do it, but just filled in the rest of the 27 stitches with stockinette, outside of my pattern, and the 2 purls on each side.

Button Bands: I hate it when you are given a number to pick up. I often make my sweaters longer, so I’d rather have a suggestion, such as 3 stitches for every 4 rows, with a multiple of 4 + 2, or whatever. I measured the length on the schematic for my size and divided it by the number of stitches I was to pick up. 5 stitches/inch. I picked up 2/3 on the stockinette portion and tried to keep the same on the cable.

50 grams left out of 5 skeins.

Notes
- by the time I did 48 rows of the chart plus 20 short rows and increase row, I’m at 70 rows. 4 more then time to split for sleeves.

Notes about the Yarn

• much denser fabric on 4 mm than 4.5 mm, but it blocks out nicely and is soft.
• lots of VM and white bits included
• breaks and pulls apart easily. Seems to be sturdy once knit up but I was surprised at how fragile this was. My 4th skein broke into 6 balls when I was winding it. It then broke twice while I was knitting the buttonband. The other skeins were find during the winding period, but I did have a couple of other random breaks, without particularly pulling the yarn.

After swatching for another allover cabled sweater I decided I like this yarn better in stockinette vs. reverse stockinette. Plus, big cables are better as the yarn is more rustic, and not smooth.