03-19-2023

Please forgive my novella. It’s taken me 2+ years to finish this sweater. Unknown start date. (Sometime prior to Jan ‘23.) Used US3 for neck/body ribbing and stockinette, US4 for the charts. US2 for the sleeve ribbing. I should have flipped the colors so the design was in dark rust, and the light rose was in the blue section.

I was doing the 2x size. I switched to a different yarn above the charts with a different gauge, because my yarn was discontinued. I paid careful attention to what gauge I was getting there & I decided to do a dec every 20 sts. I had 170 sts on each side of the front and back, the right number for 3X, so I continued the instructions for 3X. I only knitted 3 rows before separating for the arms.

After 10 rows or so knitting the front, I checked the gauge, and it seemed like the decreases I did before would be adequate, so I didn’t do the decreases as listed in the pattern.

I only knitted stockinette for the arm scye to 7.5” instead of 7.9”.

The Tynd and Alpaca 2 were used only for the neck ribbing for a softer feel.

08-02-2024

** NOTE ** All the below is UNOFFICIAL ERRATA ** (and there are more personal notes below this secton)

RIGHT FRONT section
I think this row needs a change to the 3X size, since I ran out of stitches by the end of the instructions after that.
Row 5 (WS): BO 2 (3 - 3 - 4 - 4 - 5 - 5 - 6) sts, p to end of row. (Keep following the instructions after this in the pattern. I was about 2 stitches short. See if this happens to you.)

Working the LEFT FRONT section, the WS/RS notations are opposite. WS is always purl, RS is always knit, so you’ll join the yarn on the right edge of the RS for the setup row, not the WS.

The larger decreases are supposed to be on the sleeve side (RS here), and the smaller dec’s will be on the neck side (WS here).

LEFT FRONT (Left front as you wear it, not as you look at it.)

Setup row: With RS side facing re-attach yarn on right edge, KNIT to end of row (towards the neck).

Row 1 (WS): BO 3 sts, p to end of row.

Row 2 (RS): BO 2 (3 - 3 - 4 - 4 - 5 - 5 - 6) sts, k to end of row.

Row 3 (WS): BO 2 st, p to end of row.

Row 4 (RS): BO 2 (3 - 3 - 4 - 4 - 5 - 5 - 6) sts, k to end of row.

Row 5 (WS): BO 1 st, p to end of row.

Row 6 (RS): BO 2 (3 - 3 - 4 - 4 - 5 - 5 - 6) sts, k to end of row.

(For the following, I didn’t have enough stitches to complete the instruction. I was 2 short. There was no need to “knit all remaining stitches” as there weren’t any left. I simply secured the last stitch.)

Size XS:
WS: BO 1, purl to end of row.
BO 2 sts at the beg of the next 2 RS rows, then BO 3 sts at beg of the next 5 RS rows. AT THE SAME TIME BO 1 st at the beg of every WS row 4 times. K remaining RS rows.

Size S:
WS: BO 1, purl to end of row.
BO 3 sts at the beg of the next 7 RS rows. AT THE SAME TIME BO 1 st at the beg of every WS row 5 times. K remaining RS rows.

Size M:
WS: BO 1, purl to end of row.
BO 3 sts at the beg of the next 5 RS rows, then BO 5 sts at beg of the next 2 RS rows. AT THE SAME TIME BO 1 st at the beg of every WS row 4 times. K remaining RS rows.

Size L:
WS: BO 1, purl to end of row.
BO 4 sts at the beg of the next 7 RS rows. AT THE SAME TIME BO 1 st at the beg of every WS row 4 times. K remaining RS rows.

Size XL:
WS: BO 1, purl to end of row.
BO 4 sts at the beg of the next RS row, then BO 5 sts at beg of the next 6 RS rows. AT THE SAME TIME BO 1 st at the beg of every WS row 4 times. K remaining RS rows.

Size XXL:
WS: BO 1, purl to end of row.
BO 5 sts at the beg of the next 5 RS rows, then BO 6 sts at beg of the next 2 RS rows. AT THE SAME TIME BO 1 st at the beg of every WS row 4 times. K remaining RS rows.

Size 3XL:
WS: BO 1, purl to end of row.
BO 6 sts at the beg of the next 7 RS rows. AT THE SAME TIME BO 1 st at the beg of every WS row 4 times. K remaining RS rows.

Size 4XL:
BO 1, purl to the end of row.

BO 6 sts at the beg of the next 2 RS rows, then BO 7 sts at beg of the next 5 RS rows. AT THE SAME TIME BO 1 st at the beg of every WS row 4 times. K remaining RS rows.

08-20-2024

I’m at a standstill on this because I don’t like the modifications I did, and the yarn is too bulky. Also, the yarn was discontinued and there’s no way to get more white. I may try again with a thinner yarn in the future. Sadly, I think I made some wrong choices here and it failed me.

03-21-2025

Okay, I have figured out a few things. One, I made it too long. It’s tunic length, and I’m going to rip out the whole section above the chart to make it a shorter sweater and start the armpit not too far north of that.

I’m going to continue with the Cumbria I have in my stash to make a blue sweater that has a white center portion. I don’t like the yellow tone of the natural white yarn - looks bad against my skin.

04-02-2025

I also took out the shoulder saddles, as they were not laying flat with my thicker yarn. I did a creative solution combining German short rows, some crochet slip-stitching, and made triangular epaulets instead, which I needed for a little more armhole space.

6-8-2025

Knitted a neck ribbing with Cumbria. On try-on, it was just too scratchy, so I ripped it out. I used some stash yarn, the TYND and Alpaca2, and held together made a nice soft neck ribbing. I have a darker line there where I crocheted an “anchor” of Cumbria all the way around to allow a nice stiff edge for the neckline that didn’t stretch out.

Realizing then that the Cumbria was so scratchy, I stopped using it for the sleeves and switched back to using the Delaine Merino (I had found a supplier who still had it - in fact, I knitted a whole Polina sweater with it while this Foxy was hibernating). The remaining sleeves will be done in the original yarn.

I found more Pittura, and overstiched the blue flecks in the fox tail with the pastel rainbow. I love it now.

I decided to extend the “halo” up into the blue section to create some continuity between the white and blue sections. Love that too.

09-07-2025

I finished it last night after staying up til 5 a.m. watching Romance Con Revenge. I wanted to use up some of the smaller balls of the merino without breaking open a new skein, so there are some decidedly ’70s-looking stripes on one wrist after I lost at yarn chicken for the dusty blue.

09-09-2025

These were my crazy sleeve notes, saved here for posterity. Just for the last 1/2 of the sleeve in medium blue.

start blue yarn
knit one round
next round, k2tog at front of arm (about 35 st from armpit)
every 10 rounds k2tog

after 30ish rnds, switch to US 3 needles

at 40, dec in the armpit area instead and place marker

At 42, begin short rows centered on the front (20 st forward from armpit, then find the opposite point in back to place marker), with 10 st distances on either side of marker all the way around the arm.
next round is counted as 43, after all the short rows.

Ended at 50, after a decrease.

start reducing every 5th round at the underarm marker
For 30 rows, then reduce to a 2 needle and check that you
have 104 stitches. Do 2x2 rib for 24 rounds. Switch to contrast color for 2 rounds and do a purl bindoff.