October 12, 2019: It’s Fall Break and I decided to cast on my first sweater! It’s meant for my daughter. Hope it fits her and that she wears it. Both uncertain at this time

Update November 6, 2019: My daughter just called from Madison WI. She received the sweater in the mail today and it fits her perfectly. YAY!!!

She is a size 32-33. I got 16 sts to 4 inches as gauge. Working size 3 (152 sts for the body) will give me a finished sweater circumference of 38 inches at my gauge. That gives me 5 to 6 inches of positive ease. My daughter wants a boxy cropped sweater. So casting on for Size 3.

Long Tail cast on 152 sts on US Size 10 (6mm) needles.

A Note about Needles: I did not have any circular needles this big. After some deliberation I purchased 40 inch (instead of a 32 inch) size 9 and size 10 needles for this project. While 152 sts sit a bit tight on the 40 inch needles initially, they still work OK. Also, the 40 inch length is useful when working the yoke in the round (where you work the body and sleeves sts all together). If I had a 32 inch needle available, I would use it for the lower part of the body.

OK. So back to casting on. After casting on 152 sts on US 10, 40 inch circulars, I transferred the sts to a 40 inch, US 9 circular. So transfer 76 sts, pm, transfer the next 76 sts, (discard the US 10 needles), pm, join in the round and start working K2P2 ribbing for 7 rows (I worked one extra row of ribbing compared to pattern instructions). Change to US 10 needles and work stockinette for the body.

October 16, 2019: Started the 1st sleeve. Once again, casting on with US 10 and knitting the cuff on US 9. I am making this 2 inches longer for a folded cuff. Sleeve length is 20 inches to underarm.

October 20, 2019: Finished 2nd sleeve. Joined sleeves to body and knit 6 rows (instead of 5 rows) before starting Step C. I knit one extra round because my column gauge is 22.5 sts to 4 inches.

October 23, 2019: Finished the body. Ready to start the neck. I did the usual k2tog as called for in the pattern. Before starting the k2p2 neck ribbing I have 1 + 42 + 1 + 42 = 86 sts. Continuing with size 10 needles (24 inch circulars) I started k2p2 ribbing while reducing 6 sts for a total of 80 sts (instead of 76).

Knit k2p2 ribbing for 36 rows on size 10 needles. I switched to 16 inch circulars somewhere along the neck.

October 25: I considered a tubular bind off for the neck but decided that the yarn was too bulky for it to look good. So I did a bind off in pattern with US #10.5 needles. Worked quite well.

I used this Kitchener graft to close the armhole gaps. I have 126 g from the 2nd skein remaining. So I used 250 + 124 = 374 g of yarn

October 30: On to the blocking mats!

Measurements blocked:

• Length top to bottom - 19.5 inches (my daughter wanted a really short length sweater)

  Sleeve cuff to underarm - 21.5 inches (added length for fold up cuff)

  Width at the waist - 37 inches

  Neck horizontal diameter - 9 inches