Ready to start this kit to kick off new year. Can possibly get it done or nearly done before the Club 7 KAL starting mid Feb.

I want it longer so I will start body with the sleeve chart to add an extra 24 rounds or so. I have several extra balls of Blossom and wood left over from other projects and I have ordered more rose.

After 13” the circumference, unblocked, is 47”. That means tension of 30.5 sts to 4”. Just can t get to Marie’s tension with 3.25m. rows my tension seems to be a little smaller than target: 29 sts and 29.5 rows to 4”. A 50.5” garment is more ease than I want so I am happy.

BUT I think I should knit the XXL sleeves in order to give my arms ease. Should work out. The yoke would then have 87 sts LB, 107 sts left sleeve, 173 front, 107 right sleeve and 86 for left back, a total of 560 stitches. 560 / 14= 40 reps. (Do not want a repeat of my Primrose that was too small for arms.) Or maybe I will work toward her tension with my smallest 3.5m needle but use provisional cast on and make shorter cuffs if 3.5m makes row tension too long.

Jan 4: At about 7” from bottom I switched to a 3m for some waist definition. After another 4” I switched back to 3.25m.

Jan 9: Body complete to underarm and separated on holders per instructions. Not wet blocked but steamed per yarn ball instructions.

Observations:

Piece is 15.75” over 76 rounds including 4” knit on 3m needle.

Circumference is 48 above bottom band, 46” at waist (3m) and 49” at top. Difference between top and bottom must be tighter knit over X’s where stitches close together.

So stitch tension is 7.5 sts= 1” at bottom. 7.9sts = 1” on 3m ( waist) and 7.4 sts = 1” at top where more loosely knit.

Row gauge on 3.25 is 29.7 rows to 4”.

I am going to try to work sleeves in size XL like body, but use my smaller 3.5’s. I have a few that are actually 3.42 or 3.43m when measured with vernier. And use provisional cast on to give me a little flexibility to adjust total sleeve length.

So lots of worrying for nothing. This design is just more generously proportioned than Primrose. I switched from 3.5 to 3.25 on row 20. Would have been much too long and too wide as well. Upper arm is a hair more than 16” around and my upper arms are 15” so lots of ease. Neck and hand sore. Need to take a few days break but this is looking good and working up fast. Tres excited.

Jan 15: Finished 2nd sleeve and will start yoke today. OK all joined up, two sts decreased and starting my giant 546 stitch rounds.

Jan 18: Slowly and surely moving up.
Jan 20: Rounds now 390 not 546 so moving a little quicker. Can’t wait to wear this.
Jan 22: What a rush. I will likely finish this TODAY. Well I still have to go back and do sleeve cuffs but that us just TV knitting. Great weekend to finish. Wind chill is minus 16 at the moment and we are in for some very cold weather for a few days.

Jan 22: As I finished chart B and was working the 7 plain rounds I suspected my sweater would be rather loose and flabby at the top so I worked a semi-twisted rib by knitting into backs of just the knit stitches. This did help pull it in but I tried on before casting off and was still loose and bra straps showed. I switched from 2.75m needles to 2.5m and worked 2 more rounds if semi-twisted rib. Then I cast off firmly in all knit so Edge would NOT be elastic. That worked. No bra straps visible and closes in nicely. I find there is still a lot of loose fabric at stitch reductions. That seems to go with the round yoke style. Even the pattern pic has small puckers on the yoke and folds of fabric near the arm pits. Once I soak and block this may improve. I have already steamed per instructions.

Anyway I now have a roomy and very warm sweater to add to my collection. I may not work anymore round yoke sweaters for myself. I prefer a traditional tailored shape with set in sleeves.

As for sleeve cuffs, I am not sad to see I only need short ribs. Worked 11 rounds with 2.75m and cast off. Done.

I want to soak and wet block this. Will add final measurements and pics after it drys.

Jan 24:All dry and the truth is I love the colors and motifs but I do not like the round yoke construction. Sweater is baggy at top and puckers due to major stitch reductions (548 to 390) after chart A. Also the sweater hangs lower than necessary making it too long. I know I won’t wear this much as is so I am going to rip back to under arms and re-knit with standard shaping, V-neck and set in sleeves, as I did for Primrose which I wear frequently. Sounds drastic but this was really a quick knit at 155 hours over 23 days. Another few days to get what I want is entirely reasonable.

Final blocked tension on 3.25m needle is 30 stitches and 29.5 rows to 4”.

So now ripped back to under arms and yarn is wound around kitchen stools to dekink.

Jan 27: Yarn is dry and dekinked and a traditional Fair Isle pullover is under way. Have moved start/end of rounds to left side and steeks set up for armholes and V-neck. I like this construction because work goes faster as stitches decreased at armholes and neck.

Jan 29: Body is knit, steeks have been felted and cut and back joined to front with 3-needle bindoff. I worked the back and front separately for last 4 rows so I could do short row shoulder shaping. Now just neck rib and sleeve caps.

Jan 30: Neck rib complete. I picked up 59 sts on left side, 1 stitch on pin at centre front, 60 sts on right side of neck and 56 sts at back (total 176 sts) and worked K2, P2 rib around on 3m needle. Neck is deep enough for jewellery.

Feb 1: Both sleeve caps complete and seem to be a good fit. I worked the caps flat. Not worth setting up steeks. Only 46 rows that rapidly decreased in size. Shall soak, block and attach this week.

Feb 2: All done. I am so happy I re-knit the top half. Now I have another sweater I actually like. Total knit time including rip-out, winding and re-knit about 200 hours.

The complete round yoke sweaters weighed 1 pound 2.6 ounces. My re-knit weighs 1 pound .9 so 1 ounce. Therefore I saved 240 meters of yarn. I am not going to try and recalculate yarn quantities entered previously.

Final measurements:

Length 24”
Width: Bust and hips 46”, 44” at waist
Final Sleeve is 17 1/2” from underarm to cuff bottom.

Very happy now but if I have one small quibble, my sleeve cap was just a hair big and I had to ‘squish’ it into opening. On other hand, if any shorter I could not have included any flower motifs.

Feb 4: After wearing a couple of times I decided sleeve cuffs could be longer so I unraveled the cast off row and added about 1 more inch. Sleeves now 17 1/2”. Should have known. Most of my Sleeves are 17 1/2”.