9/23
I will be putting in a zipper and and after looking at many project pages, I decided to do the front band first and then put in the collar. Then, after the zipper is installed, I can fold down the inside of the collar and sew it down over the inside of the zipper for a neater finish. I can’t see a reason that this wouldn’t work. Time will tell…

The yarn I’m using is a bit smaller than the yarn called for so I had to make stitch count adjustments for a different gauge. Pattern gauge is 4.5 st/in. My gauge is 5.5 st/in. So I am figuring out the measurements (either by schematic or by original number of stitches divided by 4.5) and then calculating how many stitches it is at my gauge (measurement in inches times 5.5). There isn’t too much shaping (neck and armhole) and there is a ribbing that will camouflage small discrepancies, so I feel pretty safe doing this. I made sure I did exactly the same thing on both fronts, even though I had to do more sleeve increases than called for, for example. Anyway, so far, so good.

I don’t think I will even come close to using the two skeins of crazy. I added purple stripes to stretch the yarn and I could have added less purple. But I like the look of it in combination with the tonal purple yarn.