If I were to make this again, I think I’d do much more decreasing at the waist (the pattern had you do 2 decreases, 14 rows apart, I did 10 decreases, six rows apart, and I’d probably do 13 decreases, four rows apart, and only three rows past the last decrease), but instead of reducing the number of rows before beginning the decreases, I’d keep it the same as the pattern, so I could raise the waist line just a little, I’d either shorten the sleeves by about an inch or lengthen them by a couple inches, as I felt like the ribbing was too close to my elbow and bunched up more than I like, and I’d do all the ribbing with a size smaller needle than the rest of the sweater. I might even knit the rolled edge one needle size smaller. I think I’d knit the full 5” on the peplum even with lengthening the body, too. However, the chances of me knitting this again are pretty low, since I hate knitting the same design more than once. I might make the child sized version, though, so I’ll keep that in mind if I do.

Overall, I am happy with the sweater and the pattern, but if I had been a beginning knitter, some of the changes I made in the design to be better for a non-model figure would have been hard to determine, and I wouldn’t have liked it as much if I knit it exactly as written. Also, though there was only one real error in the pattern, I still think that since it was photographed with a closure, some mention of options for adding one should have been listed or discussed. Although American designs tend to hold the knitter’s hand, it didn’t even have to be spelled out explicitly. Not listing anything about it was sloppy, in my opinion. It didn’t even say, “Add closure at neck as desired.” Which, of course, is not where I put the closure. I didn’t want to have it closed at the neck and opening wider as it headed south toward my waist and hips. Even when I was young and thin, that wouldn’t have been flattering for my figure. So, I put the closure at the waist to emphasize the decreases at the smallest point of the sweater. Also, the way I knit to the waist shaping and the number of decreases I made, it put the welt closer to my natural waist. The pattern would have had 51 rows, the way I did it resulted in 69 rows, which not only means that the welt was closer to being at my actual waist (it probably could have been four rows shorter), but it also meant that the ruffle wasn’t quite so voluminous on the skirt. Doing more decreases means that it would be even smaller, but I think that is not a bad thing. It still gives the visual interest of a peplum, without as much bulk.

Also, even though I made this to the normal finished bust size that I like for cardigans and jackets, it is a little roomier than I would prefer. Were I to make this again, I would go down a size. Something about the shaping and the cut of this makes it roomier than the finished measurement implies. I measured and this is, if anything, a little smaller than the finished measurement says.

January 11: All knitting finished! - 55,718 stitches.

Knit only 10 rows after dividing the body/sleeves. Do sleeves before bulk of body. Reverse decs on sleeves so they pair up more nicely. 10 rounds after final sleeve decreases, then ribbing. Much more aggressive waist decreases, every six rows for 10 decs, then knitting three more rows to welt.

Made odd st before the skirt in center back, rather than having the fronts one st off from each other. Also only knit peplum about 4” before beginning the short rows, because I lengthened the body.

I put a bound off button hole in the edging, right at the smallest point of the waist, and knit an extra row before binding off.

Welt:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j_eTAMcWhrY
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=9yWwzn...