This has easily been the worst project of my life. Hence the name! It’s taken 3 years and more do-overs than I could keep track of. I was REALLY not fond of this pattern. It is difficult to follow. No matter what I did, it was very difficult to get this thing to fit together properly. Plus, I discovered my intense dislike of honeycomb cables. NEVER AGAIN! Husband better be super pleased with this Herculean feat on my part.

Gauge - 5.25 sts and 8 rows to 1”
Ease - 2.5” - Should have used more ease for this fabric. It doesn’t fit as loosely as I wanted it to.

Mods:

Body

• Made length 25”.
• CO for XXL size + 2 sts and skip waist/bust inc, so knitting XL size without any waist shaping.
• Skip all garter st border on ribbing. (It just looks weird).
• Inc for Size 13/14 years between ribbing and beg of pattern to end up with # of sts for size XL.
• Follow charted pattern directions for size XXL + 2 sts
• Use short rows to shape armholes instead of just binding off.
• Length from armhole short rows to bind off is 8”.

Sleeves

• CO for size 13/14 years.
• Skip all garter st border on ribbing.
• Follow charted pattern directions for size 13/14 years.
• Inc. evenly for Size XXL over 14”.
• Used short rows for sleeve cap over 8” instead of binding off.
• Sleeve measures 26”.
• Cont. in pattern for 6.5” before beg bind offs for front shaping.
• Cont. in pattern for a further 3.75”.
• Sleeve measures a total of 36.75”.

Seaming
- Ratio for stitches to rows is 5/8.

Neckline
- I decided not to do the fold over collar. I just made a regular 1.5” ribbed neckline instead.