Jan 12, 2018: Started swatching. Took 3 swatches to find the right combo of needles and fabric.
Jan 28, 2018: Cast on.
April 30, 2018: Knitting the sweater didn’t actually take too long. I just took a lot of breaks between doing the many steps.

• Using Plum as the MC for the ribbing and 2 row stripes.
• Started with the long-tail cast on and began the ribbing on row 2 to account for the row created by the cast on.
• Knit the body and sleeves about .5” shorter than listed in the pattern because it seemed really long. Plus, I wanted to end the body on the same color I started with.
• Used 8 .5” buttons (the size needed isn’t listed in the pattern so I had to guess on a size.)
• Carried all the colors down the sleeves and button band instead of cutting and weaving in at each stripe. I usually remembered to twist the extra strands as I worked. Doesn’t add a lot of bulk to the sleeves and should hopefully not snag on little fingers.
• Tried a couple of different options for closing the gaps at the under arm join. Not particularly fond of either. Still on the hunt for a better method.