I’m such a fan of EVERYTHING Jennifer Woods designs. Thrilled to be doing another test knit for her. As usual, the cables and all details are spectacular.

I LOVE giant balls of yarn! This yarn is made in Turkey and licensed by Sirdar Spinning Ltd. Kudos to them, because I rewound the entire ball and there was not a single join or defect in the entire 920 yards!!!! If they can accomplish this, then why are there joins in almost every single (50-gram) ball of Stylecraft yarn and many other brands?! On the down side, the Hayfield Bonus center pull was unusable as it was a tangled mass; hence, my time spent rewinding before I could start the project. But since I always rewind anyway, it was not a big deal. The main reason I do this is to see how many joins and/or defects the yarn has and plan how to avoid these areas. I HATE finding joins and other defects in my yarn, so I truly appreciate this perfect GIANT ball of yarn.

Jennifer is having us use a much smaller needle than what would normally be used with worsted weight yarn. The result is a very dense fabric that will result in a super warm sweater with cables that really pop. The two smaller size needles are only used for the neckband.

I made a giant mistake on this test knit. I used the FRONT CHART for the BACK of the pullover! It still looks great, but I’m blaming this boo boo on my inability to read small print. Normally I print out all the charts 2 or 3 times larger so that I can clearly see everything. I failed to do it for the Front and Back Charts this time. BIG mistake! The back is supposed to be a variation of the front design - with the cables on the sides and the serpentine design down the center. If I knit this again, I’ll be sure to knit it as Jennifer intended. Luckily, my mistake does not detract from the loveliness of the sweater.

FRONT and BACK INCREASES IN CHEST AREA:

I didn’t really like the sudden increases in back. I’m not sure they’re necessary for MY angular frame. Next time I might do fewer increases in back, and I’ll definitely spread them out more - in other words, start them earlier. I’d like to see a more gradual curve in back. I’m referring to the increases done in the stockinette portions as you near the underarm. You can see what I’m talking about in one of the photos at left. I have very broad shoulders which is another good reason to start the back increases earlier. Most people will do fine to just follow the pattern instructions exactly. Once the sleeves are knitted, you don’t really notice these sudden increase stitches as much. And if you have any amount of bust, you’re going to need them in front.

I did a bit of WAIST SHAPING:

• 2 inches below underarm: Decrease 1 st at each side, 2 sts in front and 2 sts in back (stockinette portions)

• 4 inches below underarm: Same as above

• 6 inches below underarm: Same as above, but no decreases on the sides

• 8 inches below underarm: Increase (M1R) at each side, 2 sts in front and 2 sts in back (stockinette portion). I did lifted increases (R & L) at front and back.

• 10 inches below underarm: Same as above.

• 11.5” below underarm: Increased 2 sts in front and 2 sts in back (Lifted R & L)

So when I got to a point 12 inches below underarm, I had the same number of sts indicated in the pattern for my size:

109 sts - Front
107 sts - Back

After knitting 12 inches from the underarm, I did the set-up round for the bottom hem. This turned out to be exactly 5 repeats of the BACK chart - or Front Chart used for back in my case : - /

RIB-STITCH HEM:

I did not do a split hem as indicated in the pattern. If you do your hem like mine, just follow the instructions for “Rib Stitch for Round” (page 2) and make sure that you have an EVEN number of sts to start. Following the Set-up round, I had 100 sts in front and 102 sts in back. (I made a minor mistake in the set-up round, so your stitch count may be slightly different than mine.) The set-up rows/round for the Front and Back Flaps are different because they are based on what is happening in the respective charts above them.

I did 11.5 SETS of the Rib-Stitch, ending with a “K1, P1..” round. (This measured 3 inches on my sweater.) Then I bound off snuggly with the same size 5 US needle. Note that with this type of Rib-Stitch it’s not necessary to bind off loosely as you normally would. In fact, you should make an effort to bind off snuggly. The object is for the ribbing to lay flat. This type of ribbing is not very stretchy.

NECKLINE:

I did not pick up nearly as many sts as indicated in the pattern. Here’s my neckline pick-up count which I did with a 2.5mm (size 1.5 US) needle:

42 - Back Neck
14 - Saddle (left side)
30 - Left Front
14 - Center Panel of Front Chart
30 - Right Front
14 - Saddle (right side)

Total Neckline Sts: 144
Pattern says that there should be 176 for my size, so I picked up 32 less sts. I think I could have picked up a few more sts on the front sides, but I’m pretty pleased with how my neckline turned out. If you want a lower neckline, pick up more sts.

Following the pick-up round, I switched to size 5 US needle and did 2 SETS of the Slipped Rib-Stitch per pattern instructions. Then I switched to size 4 US needle and did 1.5 SETS of the slipped rib. For the final round (slipped purl sts), I switched to size 3 US needles. I also used size 3 for the bind-off in pattern. Because my neckband is narrower than what is specified in the pattern, I did not need to do any “p2tog” during the bind-off. My neckband measures 1-inch wide, created with a total of 8 rounds + the bind-off.

SHORT SLEEVES with RIB-STITCH HEM:

Pattern calls for long sleeves, but I did not have enough yarn and could not easily/quickly buy more. After putting my (held) sleeve sts back on needles, I picked up 6 (six) sts under the arm rather than 5 as stated in pattern for my size. This is because the Rib-Stitch hem requires an EVEN number of sts when knit in the round.

On the first round following underarm pick-up sts, I did the 2 decreases indicated in the pattern and continued the Saddle Chart on top. However, I did 2 additional decreases at the center of the shoulder Saddle. So that 4-st cable became 2 sts (K2tog twice). (If you want slimmer sleeves, you could also decrease 1 st at each of the Saddle’s Twist sts.) After this last round of stockinette and Saddle sts, I immediately started the Rib-Stitch hem exactly as I did it at the bottom of the sweater. The only difference was that I made the sleeve hem 2 inches wide rather than 3 inches. So for each sleeve, I did 8.5 SETS of the Rib-Stitch, ending with a “K1, P1…” round. I did the bind-off exactly the same as the lower hem.

Such a darling sweater and I knitted it in only 2 weeks of my spare time. The cables and everything about Jennifer’s patterns are very intuitive. This fits me perfectly. I finished this in time for Halloween and Thanksgiving. It’s a great fall color, and I love anything tweedy.

VERY pleased with the outcome. Jennifer never disappoints!

HOW I DID MY LONG SLEEVES:

On 9/12/20, I finished adding long sleeves after finding more or this discontinued yarn. Note that it takes more than one ball of this yarn to knit a pullover with long sleeves.

After putting 67 sleeve stitches on my needles, I decreased to 65 sts on the next round. Then I knit 9 rounds straight, followed by one round of 2 decreases = 63 sts.

(Knit 8 rounds straight; Decrease 2 sts in next round.)

Repeat above 8 more times - 45 sts

Knit 19 rounds straight. Then do the sleeve cuff set-up round, decreasing 3 sts = 42 sts

Do the rib stitch (2 row) pattern 11 times = 2.5”

Pullover Measurements:

Bust: 36”

Waist: 32”

Hip: 38”

Body length from underarm: 11” + 3” ribbing = 14”

Sleeve length from underarm: 16” + 2.5” ribbing = 18.5”

Widest part of sleeve (upper arm): 13”

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