Initial Thoughts:

• While I’m not impressed by the lack of schematic (this is the case for every Danish pattern I’ve used thus far and is the reason why I so infrequently knit Danish patterns), the instructions are very clear (if brief). I’m particularly impressed by how the short rows shaping is explained (and by how the BOR marker is set at the centre back body which makes the short row shaping easier in magic loop).

• I’m surprised by how few finished objects there are on Ravelry, as of Jan 2024, given the pedigree of the designer and the chic wearability of the design. I suppose that knitting in 2x2 rib on tiny needles is a deterrent. Mind you, if you want to be able to knit seemingly endlessly, without having a zillion projects you don’t need at the end of the year, this is a good way to start.

About The Knitting:

• I opted to go down to a 2.75mm needle to create a firmer fabric (swatching details below). If I feel I need more ease at some point, I can inc the needle size or add another raglan increase. I did swatch quite a while ago, and then didn’t start the project till now, so I hope my gauge has stayed stable.

• I’m making the size 3 and my row gauge is smaller than instructed (butI like the fabric I’ve got on the smaller needles). Pattern instructed gauge: 7.5st and 10R in 1”. KM gauge: 8st and 10.75R in 1”. I might need to make mods re: vertical dimensions as I’m working with a smaller needle that has a slightly shorter gauge. And, if I sense I need more circumference for the bust, I’ll segue to size 4 or increase needle size… Update: I’m going to keep with the size 3.

• As of depth at which the instructions indicate sleeve stitches should stop (384st in size 3): My pre-blocked gauge appears to be 38st and 42R in 4”, unblocked and unstretched. Can still stretch to instructed dimensions without being too tight.

• After doing the next 8R of incs on Fr and B only, you’ll be at 6.4” of depth. At this depth, work another 4-8R before splitting for sleeves, without decreases to - get to approx 7.25” armscye depth. Update: I worked 4 more rounds plain and then split for sleeves.

• 400st - 88st (Sl A) - 88st (Sl B) + 8st + 8st (pickup at each underarm) = 240st at start of body after splitting for sleeves.

• As of July 21: I want the body to be a min length of 13” from join at underarm to the hem. Right now it’s 5” from that join. Hopefully I’ll have enough yarn to make this happen - currently I have 74g remaining - 21g on the ball in use, 53g in the last ball. I estimate that I’ve used ~35g to get to 5” so it’s likely that it won’t be an issue. I may also want to make this longer that 13”. If I’ve got enough yarn, I may even keep going till it’s gone. About to be on vacation so perhaps I’ll appreciate a methodical knit.

• It seems that 0.5” = 5R =~3g. I’ll work another 5R and confirm this. Note: at start of next 5R I’ve got 17.95g of the current ball in use. After 5R I’ve got 14.3g. So 5R = 3.65g. Let’s call it 3.75g in 5R or 7.5g for 10R aka 1”. At this point I’ve got 67g remaining. I can knit 9” more with this amount of yarn. I’m at 6.5” from underarm (but not wearing the garment, it’s really 6” (being worn) as I’ve knitted 10R which is 1” and I was at 5” when first I checked. I need min of 7” more of length. But I can get 20 more rounds after that to bolster the length of this garment, as necessary. Remember: ribbed garments with negative ease lose length when worn because the stretched circumference eats into that length.

• I have to say, since I started working on the body, this project is going slowly. I mean, not glacially slow, but whatever the next thing up from that is. I’m starting to feel like a machine and it’s boring af. But, if I want the end product, I’ve got to see this through and I def want it to be ready by the early fall (by late Sept.) That gives me about 8 weeks. I’d prefer not to work on this monogamously because it’s too dull and I really don’t love KFO yarn to bits. This merino is fine but it doesn’t have a ton of personality and this base is always so overspun. The yarn also clings to itself so I’m over the knitting.

• For reference: At 46g remaining, from the split for sleeves, I worked 10.25”. I’ve decided may opt to use up all of the 46g. This garment does get shorter when worn because of the ribbing and negative ease. That means that 13” won’t actually be that length on my body. I’ll likely need to work to 15” to get a depth of 13” below the underarm to hem (estimation). Update: I got to 15” before blocking and then it blocked to 17” - but great length when worn…

• On the body portion of this knit (below split for sleeves: 10R = 7.5g = 1” Update: As so often happens, my preblocked gauge changed and it’s longer than it was in my swatch / initial knitting. I’m now getting 9.25R per inch ?! vs 10.75R. This means that technically, I can get to my preferred depth with less yarn but keep in mind that, when blocked, this yarn will shrink vertically, because that’s what the gauge swatch shows - in addition to the length being absorbed by circumference given that this is a ribbed garment with lots of negative ease. Additional update: When I checked the length again (after 30 more rounds from the original 10.25” below split for sleeves, I only have 12.5” which doesn’t make sense if my gauge is actually 9.25R per inch. I should have 13.5”. The gauge on this is really tricky to figure out. I’m just gonna have to keep trying it on… The good news is that I have enough yarn to work ~4 more inches of length. I think that 3” will be enough. I’ll try things on when I’ve completed 3 more inches of length or approx 30 more rows.

• It would appear that I can knit 8-9R an hour. Let’s call it 9 cuz I was a bit unfocused when I timed myself. That’s about 6.5 minutes per round or about 65-70 minutes for 10R. At this point, I wish I had a knitting machine so I could just be done with this. In truth: Based on what I know of knitting machines, I never want to use one as they are tremendously technical and, if I want to make things with machinery, I’d prefer to sew :-) Still though, this garment - while I can tell it will be eminently wearable - is very boring to knit after you join at the underarm.

• 6” more will give me 16.25” of length (again, this will shorten when worn). That may work well with leggings?! Or it may be too long to wear with jeans and too short to wear with leggings. I’m going to have to keep trying on as I work the remaining bodice length until I find what I’m going for. If I think it likely that I’ll run out of yarn before I get to that extra length, then I’ll keep it shorter and I’ll have a bit of yarn remaining.

• Sleeves: Start out with 96st = 88st + 8st cast on when joining the sleeve.

• Hilariously - and I never do this - I put this project down for about a month, thinking that I’d remember what to do (and having written notes in a notebook that I then forgot to bring on vacation with me). So I had to go back and read my work. That took a while…

• I determined that, at my row gauge, I should repeat the decreases every 9th round to get to ~17.5” - 18” at 56st circumference (wrist circ), which is shorter than instructed. In light of this, I’ve been decreasing at even intervals that are diff than those rec in pattern That means, (Dec R, K8) repeated should get me to 56st before the sleeve has reached the desired length for me. See new notes scrawled on the pattern itself… I’ll knit ~17.5” and then put yarn on hold till after blocking. (At that point, I’ll bind off, having made sure first that the sleeves wouldn’t be a smidge too long or short.) I also don’t think I’ll be playing yarn chicken on the body of the sweater - now on hold - but it’s hard to know. Wait a sec: as this is ribbing with lots of stretch, I want to ensure that things won’t shrink more vertically (as the fabric stretches around the circ of my arm). I think I prob want to knit to 18.5” before putting the st on hold… Note: Tried this on (pre-blocking) and the length looks good…

• At my gauge, getting to 18.5” depth of sleeve took 183R (before blocking)… Update: The completion of the sweater seems to have cinched up the underarm and shortened the sleeve to 17.75” pre-blocking which is fine because this fits as long as I’d like it to… Update 2: I may opt to remove some length from the sleeves - like an inch per sleeve - but not rushing to do this. I want to see if I like wearing a longer sleeve for a change…

About the ChiaoGoo Spin / swivel cords: I was so excited to try these because I do love a swivel cord but these are sadly horrible - at least in the smaller sizes of the small cable needle group - because the cable is too unsubstantive and the stitches catch when the cable hits the swivel join. When I casted on the underarm stitches I could barely work the row because the new (backwards loop) stitches just wouldn’t slide from the exceedingly thin cord (way thinner than the red cords and NO memory) onto the swivel join - to say nothing of them sliding over the join between the swivel and the needle. It took me an hour to fix with serious frustration. I may try these cords with my larger small cable needles (like US5 and US6) but I sense the distinction between the cord gauge and the joins may still be a problem. Live and learn.

Final Thoughts:

• I have 8g remaining so I should be able to do 10 more rows if I feel, post blocking, that this needs a bit more depth. Pre-blocking I think the bodice length is fine…

• Post-blocking, I love the length of the bodice but I may opt to shorten the sleeves by about an inch. They currently hit at my thumb joint, just south of my wrist. I tend to prefer sleeves that stop at the wrist but the length is warm, and this is a true winter sweater…

• This is an eminently wearable garment that, if evenly-knitted with a fine-fingering weight yarn will be indistinguishable from a RTW sweater that one would purchase. Having said this, there’s something a smidge dull about knitting something you could pick up at a store, esp given that it takes so long…

• I’m an organized knitter who tends to finish small-gauge projects (on small to tiny needles) fairly quickly, as evidenced by the timelines for lots of my other projects. This one took 7 months, in large measure because I let it languish for weeks to months at a time. I sense you could finish this in a month if it were all you were knitting and you knit a lot. But even the sleeves are a long-term experience and once you finish with the raglan shaping, everything becomes repetitive. I had to put it down (and I was knitting other ribbed projects at the same time) because it wasn’t outrageously easy on my hands (nor was it terrible) and I wanted to see quicker progress on more interesting, textured knits.

• I’m very glad I knitted this because I sense it will become a winter staple (and I live in a wintery place). It’s very chic and practical simultaneously. I happen to have the right amount of deep stash to make this again.

• The only mod I made, other than lengthening the bodice, was to the rate of decreases on the sleeves so that I would get to the appropriate wrist dimension over a shorter span (I shortened the sleeves to hit at my wrist bone). I’m very glad I did this because I still find the sleeves on the long side - see above. FWIW, I knitted my bodice about 3” longer than the pattern instructs. It’s just the right length (high hip). So I’ve used more yarn than I would have had I made the size 3 according to pattern. Mind you, I also went down a needle size and got a smaller gauge - so my garment is sized between a 2 and 3. That saved me some yarn…

• I really love the colour and I think that this is the perfect sort of project for KFO fingering-weight merino. I’m not a mega-fan of this yarn, though I do find the palette to be beautiful. Alas, zillions of rows of 2x2 knit call attention to the fact that it’s consistently overspun, kind of sticky and not particularly soft. I mean, it’s totally soft enough to wear next to skin, but it lacks a sense of luxury. Mind you, I do think that it will wear well for this reason.

• Once again, the yarn was FILTHY when I wet blocked. Had to rinse 5-10x to get the water to be merely slightly cloudy brown. I stopped because I don’t want to overagitate the yarn and felt anything. I’ve never used a yarn base that’s so frequently gross (and not because of dye leakage but because of farm grime). I have a real like-hate relationship with this yarn. It fits the bill for many projects but it never quite measures up.

Pre-blocked Dimensions: It’s key to remember that these are UNSTRETCHED dimensions and that the 2x2 rib stretches a lot. Pre-blocking this garment fits very well with negative ease. Also, keep in mind that this garment has a snug fit so the armsyce does fit snugly, even if it’s about 0.5” deeper than I usually go for (and I have a very short armscye). Given all of the negative ease, you need the extra depth because it’s pulled up by the horizontal expansion of the garment, when worn.

Bust circ: 19”
Hip circ: 20”
Sleeve circ (bicep): 7.5”
Sleeve circ (wrist): 6”
Neck opening circ: 10.5”
Neck depth (top of back body ribbing to top of front body ribbing): 1”
Underarm to hem: 15”
Underarm to cuff: 17.75” - this is the optimal length, I think
Diagonal raglan depth (to base of neckband): 8”
Vertical raglan depth (to base of neckband): 7.75”

Postblocked Dimensions:

Full length from sweater (incl neckband): 24”
Bust circ: 25”
Hip circ: 29”
Sleeve circ (bicep): 7.5”
Sleeve circ (wrist): 6”
Neck opening circ: 10.5”
Neck depth (top of back body ribbing to top of front body ribbing): 1.25”
Underarm to hem: 17”
Underarm to cuff: 18.5”
Diagonal raglan depth (to base of neckband): 8”
Vertical raglan depth (to base of neckband): 7.25”

Gauge Swatching:

Preblocked - 2.75mm: I was able to stretch this to 30st x 40R but I wouldn’t want to go any smaller in needles than this, and I like this fabric a lot. May alter size, as necessary, to stick with this gauge of fabric.

Postblocked - 2.75mm: 32st and 43R in 4” (this is when the yarn bounced back after unpinning/blocking) While I like this fabric, I may swatch with rec needle size (3mm) to see if I get gauge and like that fabric…

Update - when knitting sweater my (pre-blocked) gauge changed to 39R in 4”. Based on my other swatches, this will shrink a little bit but not much…

Post-blocked - 3mm: 32st and 42R in 4” with less need to stretch the swatch. Didn’t measure pre-blocking because I knew it would stretch to the desired dimensions.

The 3mm swatch stretches to 6” at tightest pull and the 2.75mm swatch stretches to 5.5” at tightest pull…