I only have 1300m of this yarn and I needed to use a larger hook than specified to get gauge so I’m going to make it shorter in the body (I’m short-waisted anyway, so that works for me) and will possibly do shorter sleeves as well - it will depend how I’m doing for yarn.

11 March: completed and on the blocking mats. I had to modify the pattern quite a lot because I only had 1300m of yarn but I am happy with the results. Modifications were as follows:

Made the body shorter - only 49cm rather than the 53 the pattern called for.

Worked the sleeves after I had done the button bands and neck edging so I could make sure I had enough yarn for that section and do shorter sleeves if necessary.

Shorter sleeves. This was the biggest deviation from the pattern. I knew I wouldn’t have enough yarn to complete the sleeves as written so modified substantially. I began with only 48 ftr (I have narrow wrists) and worked the 8 rows of the cuff. I then inc 1 in row 9 and worked the shell pattern as directed over rows 10-16. I then worked the second section of the shell pattern and began increasing 4 stitches every second row after row 22. This meant I got to the width I needed to fit the armhole opening (44cm) after 36 rows. I worked another 4rows without increase and then fastened off so I had enough yarn left to sew the remaining seams.

While the garment is shorter than i might have liked, I think since there’s a fair bit of alpaca in this yarn there’s a chance it might grow a little over time. Even if it doesn’t it will still be wearable as a slightly cropped cardigan.