Jan 26
Swatch with G too stiff, 7 feels better & gauge is good. Need to swatch large gauge. Need to wash swatch & see what happens before proceeding tho!

I plan to alternate 3 balls so that every row is from a different ball, to eliminate any self-striping and just get an overall tweed crazy-color effect. Should be awesome.

Jan 27
Washed swatch & soaked in hair conditioner. It is so much softer & nicer! Row gauge did not change, stitch gauge shrunk a teeny bit (1/2 stitch over 4”) but not enough to matter, as its worn vertically that will stretch with gravity anyway. Woot, can start for real now!

Jan 31
Wow this is working up quickly so far! Left front done & 12 rows into back. Alternating 3 balls is working out.

I was really struggling with stutch count for some reason. That’s unusual for me. I think me thick tweedy yarn combined with the ch-1to turn & changing balls every row was obscuring my first & last stitches, and I kept losing stitches. Finally had to resort to putting a stitch marker in the first stitch & moving it up with every row, so that when I get to the end of a row I know where my last stitch belongs. Now my counts are on target.

My mods so far.
Worked front for size 43.5.
To raise armscye did 38 hdc before dec. stitches. Will do 3 dec rows then do 2 rows plain, then 3 inc, for total of 8 underarm rows. For sleeve I think I’ll start with the 38” size but do fewer full rows in the middle because I want it narrower. Too-wide sleeves & too-low armscyes bother me. Then for the back I’m doing size 38”

Feb 7
Loads of progress. Finished body, seamed shoulders & wove all ends. Began 1st sleeve.

Feb 18
Making progress. 1/2 done with first sleeve. Making size 38 sleeve, but omitting some of the even center rows. Will probably only do 6. Also 8.5 rows of collar done. It looks so cool! I’m really falling in love with my yarn choice. Definitely going to have leftovers, at least 1 full ball I would guess.

Feb 22
Finished collar!!! And….I think it’s too big. Need to check may gauge again with that bigger hook! I thought it was correct, but the collar just looks huge & kinda silly, it sticks out over/ past my shoulders. It doesn’t come it so far in the project photos. I may frog back a few rounds. Or I may wait till after I wash it & see it softening up helps it lay nicer.

Beetle gives his approval, checking it out through the armhole :)

Feb 28
Washed & blocked body, and still felt collar is too big, so frogged two rows. Not sure if I’m going to frog more or not, I’m going to finish the sleeves & get a clasp & then decide.

Mar 8
Both sleeves done, washed & blocked. Re-wetted peplum on fronts/sides & blocked aggressively for more width/swing. Hope that imprives fit. It was too straight & I felt it emphasized my lack of hips/ thick waist. Hopefully this will give me more shape.

Mar 9
Sewn!! So basically finished. Buying clasp tomorrow, then official photos will be taken :)

SO glad I narrowed sleeve & raised armscye, they fit well. As written they would have been far too big & really bothered me.

The extra blocking I did if the peplum also adds nice movement. Much happier. Do wish I had done size 38 fronts. I thought I would need extra room for my bust, but the collar is stretchy enough it would have been fine. Oh well.