Well my Carbeth sweater (designed by Kate Davies) is a bit of a mongrel and definitely a rule-breaker!

Dived into my stash for an inappropriate yarn sub so instead of using DK doubled-up, I have used a single strand of Aran-weight, 5.5mm needles for ribbing and i-cord bind off and I went up to 7mm needles for the stockinette (main) part.

I am a 39” full-bust but went for the 4th size because of gauge issues (surprise surprise) I’m so happy with the snuggish fit - still lots of room around the waist and hips.

I added 2” to the length (10” total) before adding sleeves and I Kitchener-stitched the sleeves before going on to do the shaping (decreases) to minimise the underarm holes problem - it worked pretty well I think.

I had intended to knit the full ribbed neck but instead I put in a lifeline and did an I-cord bind-off without first reducing the number of stitches for the neckline - definitely the right decision for a person who tends to overheat quite quickly - but glad I put in the lifeline because it’s good to have choices.

I only used a ball and a half of the Jewelspun - so I call that a win - knitted it in 5 days so I’ll have to learn to speak again as I’ve been largely incommunicado since last week - in my defence I thought I might finally be succumbing to Covid but turns out it was just my sinuses reacting to the high-pressure of the heatwave - phew .

I still really hate having my photo taken so excuse the posing - I need to learn to channel my inner drag-Queen!