My boyfriend wished for “an itchy sweater to wear in the forrest” for his Birthday - here you go!

Mods

• Italian cast-on, see tutorial under blog posts
• Tubular cast off
• Made tighter sleeves: cast on 44 st and increased to size XXL’s. Increase: every 5th round 8 times, then every 6th round 8 times.

Short row shaping in the yoke
I realized too late that I wanted to include short rows in the yoke. I made a pair of short rows in rows 42, 48 and 51.

I worked with four markers to separate the body and the sleeve stitches.

Placing of short rows:

1. Knit to marker, k5, w&t, purl to marker, sm, purl to marker, sm, purl to marker, sm, p5, w&t, continue knitting in the round in pattern.
2. Knit to marker, k1, w&t, purl to marker, sm, purl to marker, sm, purl to marker, sm, p1, w&t, continue knitting in the round in pattern.
3. Knit until three stitches before next marker, w&t, purl to marker, sm, purl to marker, sm, purl until three stitches before next marker, w&t, continue knitting in the round in pattern.

The short rows do show quite a bit in the front, especially the one in row 42. Maybe I wouldn’t bring them so long to the front next time, but turn earlier.

Yarn
I love the yarn’s variation of color! It is quite itchy, but becomes softer after washing. A lovely and truly classic wool yarn.

Gauge
Measured after a bit of wear.
One color: 17 st x 26 rows
Colorwork: 20 st x 22 rows

Size
He has a breast circumference of 120 cm, so I went for size XXL. I measured the body and the sleeves from another sweater he loves. It turned out a tiny bit too large, I think next time would go down one size. My boyfriend is 1,74 m tall.

Needles
ChiaGoo Red
3.5 mm for ribbing
4.5 mm for body and colorwork sections