12/10/09 To button or not to button? Still deciding… Either way this is the most awesome sweater EVER.

10/21/09 Originally I was going to knit the XL version in hopes that worsted weight on size 9s (ribbing on 7s) would yield somewhere around a size small. I was hoping I could just stick to the pattern completely and not have to do any calculations. About 3” in I tried it on and it fit but was tighter than I would have liked, so I started over with the following changes:

CO 144
Markers placed as follows: k 72, pm A, k 24, pm B, k 24, pm B, k 24.
Increases and decreases done 5 times each to end up back with 144 sts.
Short rows & sleeve bind offs: k 24, w&t, p 120, w&t, k to end. Next row: BO 5, k 62, BO 5, k to end.

Sleeves I did the same as the XL sleeves but with 6 increases, not 7, and BO 5 like the body.

Join together in the same order as the pattern (left sleeve-39 sts, front-60, right sleeve-39, back-72, but on the first join round just k4, pm, k to end. (208 sts)
k a round and increase 2 sts on the front (210 sts)

Now do the owls.

k1, k2tog decreases in same way, end up with 140 sts and then 93 sts.

This part I strayed quite a bit from the pattern, so if you want it just like the pattern you shouldn’t follow these instructions and should work out the neck short rows on your own, because I wanted a little bit more on the sleeves as well as on the back, so I did my short rows like this:
k18, w&t
p72, w&t
k68, w&t
p64, w&t
k60, w&t
p56, w&t
k to end, k one more round

Last round before ribbing; 8 decreases were done on the shoulders and the other 2 on the back so I would get the shape I wanted:
k5, k2tog, k2 3 times, k2tog, k20, k2tog, k2 3 times, k2tog, k16, k2tog, k10, k2tog, k11

Finally the ribbing.

Hooray!