My yarn for this project arrived yesterday - I ordered the same colours as the pattern, and got a cone of the main grey instead of individual balls, so that worked out about half price :)

I swatched last night, and got stitch gauge on 3.25mm needles (I pretty much always have to go up a needle size, being a tight knitter). My row gauge is a little off, but I think that it’ll stretch downwards under its own weight. I’m going to try hanging it up with some pegs on the bottom to check that shortly.

Overall I’m loving the colour combination :) The oil on the coned yarn is a little odd, but it’s washed out nicely. I did think of skeining it up and washing it before starting knitting, but I think that all that niddy noddy-ing would just about kill me, so I’m going to put up with it I think!

I tried two different ways of weaving in the ends - for some stripes I just left them and wove them in afterwards with a needle, but for others I wove them in as I went, as in fair isle knitting. This worked well at the beginning of the first colour and the end of the second, but at the other end - the beginning of the purl row - it meant I had two strands to weave in together, and my tension was a bit off. I managed to adjust it later, but on balance I think that I’m going to have to just suck it up and weave in afterwards. I’ll do it as I go, so I don’t completely lose the will to live at the end!

15.12.12 - I’d just done the first row after the provisional cast on when it occurred to me (duh!) that my hips are at least two sizes bigger than my bust, so I hastily cast on another 40 stitches and am going to do some extra decreases to get down to about the right waist measurement. Hope it works out okay!

22.12.12 - I’m past the pocket slits now, and working towards the waist, I’ve done nine stripes. I’m doing my decreases every six rows instead of every eight, to allow for my pear shaped body. Well, to try, anyway.

I didn’t use stitch holders when doing the pocket sections, I just worked each section in turn as I came to it on the main needle, ending each section with a knit row, then purled back along to join them all up again. I’ve sewn all the ends in too - if I don’t do it as I go along I’ll lose the will to live at the end!

I’m really pleased with the way it’s looking so far :)