I am very very happy with how this turned out. It fits perfectly! And the yarn is super soft and stretchy, I love it. Overall, the pattern is very well-written and very easy to follow.
I started this as a Monte Rosa, but it didn’t turn out the way I wanted it. So I searched for a replacement pattern, which I found in Niagara Snow: it has what I liked in Monte Rosa, namely the cables and especially the herringbone cables, but then without the yarn-over cables that didn’t work in this yarn. I’m incorporating the colour accents that I like in Monte Rosa.

Jan 11: The fit is perfect after blocking. I was a little bit afraid that it would be too tight, but I should’ve trusted my swatching and calculations: it grew just the right amount!

Jan 9: Knitting is finished!! I crocheted a grey line around the neckline too, after attaching it. Looks pretty!

Jan 2: Second sleeve finished, and the band on the back too. I crocheted a grey line around the edge of the back band. And I bought buttons: simple silver ones, perfect for this project. I started the neck band, but had to start over I don’t know how many times: I somehow missed a stitch, or my stitch slipped off while doing the kfb, or, when I was finally there, the buttonhole was too tight. In the end I did a double YO to solve this.

Dec 23: Finished the first sleeve, again with colour accent before the ribbing. I started using the magic loop method, but realized halfway through that I much prefer DPN’s.

Dec 7: Body is finished! I’ve decided to not follow the pattern for the ribbing. I continued the herringbones until the end, I have 2x2 ribbing in between those (one with twisted stitches, one with crossed stitches and another one with twisted stitches ), and the rest is simple 1x1 ribbing. I like to keep it simple, with the extra colour accent. I crocheted two grey stripes in the purl stitches next to the button band.

Nov 27: I reached the point where I want to start the the ribbing, but I decided to first put in a few rows in grey as in the Monte Rosa pattern. I now just can’t figure out what I’m supposed to do with the ribbing. I guess the description only starts after those first few stitches for the button band, but that’s not clear to me either.

Nov 9: Made it to the waist! I added two extra decreases to make it a little more tight-fitting around the waist.

Nov 3: The length of the yoke was perfect with four rows less. So I continued, and put the sleeve stitches on waste yarn.

Oct 28: The yoke came out too long. I ripped back a few rows, so that I can cut out some and make it shorter.

Oct 25: This goes very well! It looks like my calculations turn out alright. I mis-cabled in one of the big cables and in one of the herringbone cables, but I was able to fix that. I’m really enjoying this project so far.

Oct 19: I figured out that with my gauge, I should make a L-XL to get it to turn out as an M. So I casted on!
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July 13: I started swatching today. I thought it was too tight on 4.5 mm needles, but I like what I get on 5 mm needles. Before blocking this gives me 15,25 (end of swatch)-15,5 (begin) sts x 22 rows on 10 cm in stocking stitch. After blocking it’s exactly one stitch and one row less.