Sharon gave me the Deep Mauve yarn so I could make her a sweater. I found some coordinating Tanzanite yarn in PEI that I’ll use for the front bands and collar.

Adjusting for Bulky Weight Yarn. I knit a gauge swatch with size 10-1/2 needles to determine that I needed to cast on 128 stitches to get desired back + front width measurement.

I calculated that I needed to use a factor of 0.61 (11/18) as a multiplier to find the number of stitches I needed and where to divide for front and back.

I used a factor of 0.69 (18/26) to find the number of rows I needed to knit to reach the target measurements.

I had to adjust the number of times I knit the various decreases to achieve both the correct number of rows and the correct number of remaining stitches.

For the size I was knitting, 46 rows gave me the 10-1/4 inches I needed for the raglan armhole lengths.

Unintended Design Element. I knit the garter stitch border on the body with size 11 needles, instead of size 9. I had put the needles back in the wrong package (sigh). I’m knitting the sleeve cuffs with size 9, though, and will use size 9 for the front bands and collar as well.

Sleeves. The sleeves didn’t seem to have much positive ease, so I decided to use the instructions for a larger size. I cast on 30 stitches for each sleeve and increased to 54 stitches using instructions for the ninth size. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the taper right the first time. I had been increasing every other row instead of every fourth row.

Take Two. I reknit the sleeves to a) shorten the cuff, b) correct the decrease angle of the lower sleeves and c) to add several inches of width to the top of each sleeve.

I restarted the sleeves March 12, 2025, about five months after Sharon had tried on the pieces already knit.

I also decided to reknit the armhole shaping on the front and back, to better distribute the additional fabric.

Seaming. I slipped the first stitch of each row purlwise and knit the last stitch, to make it easier to sew the sleeve seams as in l’Enveloppe. I used the method very clearly explained by Maryna Shevchenko (10rowsaday) and it worked like a charm. I had to pin the pieces together, though, wrong side to wrong side, to help keep the fabric in place until I was ready to work on that section. I found I really did have to pull the stitches tight as I went along, identifying the next insertion point on the opposite side before I tightened the stitch.

Picking Up Stitches. I watched Roxanne Richardson’s well-explained video on Picking Up Stitches. It took me about six tries to get it right, though, because I had forgotten to take the slipped stitches -- where I had reknit for the armhole openings -- into account. In those sections of the upper front I had to pick up every stitch, instead of just two out of three.

Double Chain Bind-Off. Maryna Shevchenko gave a wonderful tutorial on the Double Chain Bind-Off which I used to match the Chinese Waitress Cast-On I used on the body. It makes such a nice finished edge.

Yarn Usage. I finished the body of the sweater with just 2-1/2 skeins of the Softee Chunky yarn.

The sleeves took just over 2 skeins. The front bands and collar took 1-1/2 skeins of the Wavelength yarn.