01-22-2020

Suggested needle size for “A” is US 8, for “B” is US 5

For “A” I’ve used US 7 to get closest to gauge. Suggested needle size for “B” is 3 sizes down.

02-24-2020

There has been quite a bit of veg matter in the yarn so far. I’m having to pick out straw every few stitches at times.

04-13-2020

I’ve been struggling with the collar and button holes for so many hours that it’s frustrating. I finally got to a point where I could drape the sweater so far (without sleeves) over my husband and I’ve put the buttonholes on the wrong side of the collar. I have no idea how I messed this up… but now I get to rip back. I’m thinking of using afterthought buttonholes once I get going again because the top one is way too high up on my husband’s chest. Finishing the collar will probably go faster not having to stop for buttonholes, too.

04-18-2020

After wrangling the sleeves into the body of the sweater, I’ve finally bound off and woven in all the tails. Once the sweater is dry, I’ll have my husband try it on and we’ll determine the buttons should go. His first fitting before blocking went ok… the sweater is a bit shorter than he’d like and the cuffs on the sleeves are a bit more loose than he’d like. I’ve got the length pinned so it can dry at a longer length (hopefully).

04-25-2020

The afterthought buttonholes went better than expected. I found an inspirational reference to these online ( https://www.lovecrafts.com/en-us/c/article/afterthought-b... ) and opting for this gave me the freedom to finish the collar without worrying about buttonhole placement. It also allowed for my husband to show me where he wanted them after seeing the fit of the sweater.

The cuffs ended up being too stretchy, so I also ran some thread though the knit stitch rows to take away some of the stretch. It definitely doesn’t keep the cuffs from stretching fully, but gives a bit more tension so they’ll stay on his forearms better.

Overall I’m really pleased with how this turned out, except for setting in the sleeves. I’ve since found other knitters’ project photos where a technique was used to pin the top of the sleeve to the front and collar while it was stretched out on blocking boards. I’ll try to learn more about this technique before I set in sleeves next time.

When my husband was trying it on again after I’d finished the buttons it was obvious that the sweater was A-lined, so to speak LOL. I added a couple of darts in the ribbing on the side seams (just used matching thread to draw in three channels of ribbing in the back on each side of the seam, plus stitched the side seams in a bit more in the ribbing section, not all the way down).

It was also obvious that the weight of the buttons was causing the front panels of the shawl collar to no longer line up correctly. So, I’ve added an interior button and button hole to help hold the front in place.