03-22-2022

Yarn arrived today! Casting on a test swatch!

-several hrs later-

Okay, so swatch complete and drying on the blocking mat. I knit half with standard k&p, and half in tbl (twisted) k&p after reading kammererknitsalot’s notes on their sweater.

(https://www.ravelry.com/projects/Kammererknitsalot/the-ha...)

I think I’m liking the look of the twisted cables more. They seem to have better tension than the standard cables.

03-23-2022

Actually, I’ve decided to go the regular/non-twisted stitch route, after consulting with my commissioner.

Starting the back panel.

My guilty confession is that, though I’ve been knitting for 20+ years, I almost always use the same German twisted CO that I was taught in a learn-to-knit book all those years ago (My only exceptions are when a pattern requires provisional). But today, I finally used the tubular CO after seeing it mentioned in several project pages for this pattern. And I actually really like it, at least for 1x1 tbl ribbing. I did 4 slip stitch set up rows.

I found Zaiinara’s pullover had a lot of great tips/links:
https://www.ravelry.com/projects/zaiinara/the-handsome-ch...

I’ve finished the ribbing (2.5”) and have made about 1” of progress on the cables. I decided to slip the end st of each row.

04-03-2022

Day 13- the cabling fatigue has started to set in. The end is in sight for the back panel, which is just short of 17” after two skeins. I believe the third skein will be sufficient to complete it. Bought some lovely driftwood Lykke 32” circulars after a week because my old bamboo circulars have a tiny chip in one tip that was catching on the yarn and getting annoying. Hoping my 1x cables look better after blocking.

04-12-2022

Day 22- the back panel is finished! I knit a stretchy BO (extra YO between each st) across the WS row. I’ll likely redo the bind off later once I’m ready to start seaming for a more structured, in-pattern BO. The CO to BO length measures just over 24”.

On an unrelated note: if I never knit another 3x3 cable again, I’ll whistle a jaunty tune. Alas, I am but a third-ish done with this project…

05-06-2022

Day 46-

I took a week-long hiatus for a sock pattern I was itching to try, but I’m back on this now and the front panel is bound off! I hope to block the front and back panels this weekend, seam the shoulders, and knit the collar, prior to starting on sleeves.

I got particular about the front and back panel having exactly equal row counts, so I ended up calculating/charting the collar rows to figure that out. I’ll post a chart pic.

Did the front BO and redoing the back BO per zaiinara’s pattern notes:

Used normal BO except for Panel A, Patty Lyons advice on BO in cable pattern to prevent flare: https://pattylyons.com/2015/09/tuesday-tip-bind-off-in-ca….

And finally, I got a second wind for knitting 3x3 cables. Still don’t enjoy them, but no longer find them maddeningly annoying.

05-12-2022

Day 52-

Working on arm 1. I felt like it was already a wide start, so instead of adding stitches every C chart, I’m going to add one every 2nd C chart. I should gain about 12 sts total by the time I bind off.

05-28-2022

Day 68-

Arm 1 complete. The row before cast off was 96 sts, and the bind off was 84 sts due to doing 3~p2togs at each 3x3 cable.

I went looking for my #4 needles to start the next arm, only to realize those were the needles I’d just used to cast off- I forgot to switch to larger needles after the cuff….oops. Oh well. My measurements are fine. I’ll do arm 2 the same.

I’m in the home stretch baby!

06-06-2022

Day 77-

Today, I cast off the second arm which means… I CAN FINALLY SWITCH BACK TO MY SOCK PROJECT OVER LUNCH HOUR TOMORROW!!!

The arms are drying on the blocking mats tonight- I should be able to take them off and start seaming everything on Wednesday.

I just need to sew it all together, knit the collar, and then do a final fitting with my commisioner for any final re-seaming.

06-07-2022

Day 78-

Knit the collar, and am particularly proud of figuring out how to modify a tubular bind off for tbl ribbing.

I deviated slightly from pattern by knitting the collar ktbl, ptbl. In the final 4 rounds before the BO, I slipped alternate stitches to replicate the setup rows of a tubular CO, in order to match the sleeves and body, and so that it holds its shape better at the BO.

(Inevitably, two days later I found a tutorial for the twisted tubular bind off that I’d figured out all by my myself. There is nothing new under the sun. twisted tubular BO tutorial)

06-08-2022

Day 79-

I’ve completed my seaming. All that’s left is the test fitting for my commissioner and, if all goes well, weaving in the ends.

I had a moment of doubt while seaming the arms that I should have doubled the number of increases- they appeared too narrow at the body. But, when I tried it on myself, it felt okay since the shoulder seam falls a bit past the natural shoulder. Hope it fits my commissioner similarly.

Honestly, I was very surprised that this had a flattering fit on my body. I assumed all the rectangular shapes wouldn’t suit a curvy figure, but this pattern works for that. Weird.

The arms seem slightly long now that I’ve seamed everything, so my guess is that i might be frogging them back a bit.

I am just a few yards short of finishing my 8th skein at this point in the project, out of the 10 I initially ordered.

06-12-2022

Day 83-

Good news is that commissioner is happy with my work, bad news is that I do indeed have to make a few adjustments: reduce the arm length and increase the depth of the collar.

This afternoon I pulled my seams, frogged a few inches off the arms, and bound them off once more. Next, I’ll be frogging the front panel to about 1” past the bottom of the neckline, and then reknitting the sides of the neck opening. I’m going to work the decreases the same, but once they’re at the edge of the B panel, I’ll continue without decreases until I’m back to the original length.

06-15-2022

Day 86-

Finished the neck and sleeve revisions. Another fitting happening tomorrow. NGL, I liked it more with the overlong sleeves.

I noticed that though I made the collar about 1.5” deeper, with the the way the sweater drapes, the result is that the depth seems about the same but the width of the collar has increased. It likes to stretch horizontally towards the arms instead of down towards the chest. But maybe on a narrower shouldered person it would drape down more…

06-18-2022

Day 89-

Finally finished!!! Delivering on Monday.

If I were to change anything, I would have knit the body of the sweater on US4 needles. I knit the front and back panel on 6’s, but knit the sleeves on 4’s by mistake, and I think the sleeves came out a bit better, particularly the tension of the 1x cables. Also, I would work the sleeve increases on every ‘C’ chart repeat, as the patter suggests. I chose to do increases every other ‘C’ because I was worried the sleeves would end up too wide, but I’m actually on the verge of them being too narrow at the body (they’re fine, but it’s close). I’d also consider knitting this sweater in the round instead of panels, though having panels did reduce the amount of rework when I was doing final alterations. Finally, I’m not 100% happy with my yarn choice (or, well, my commissioner’s yarn choice in this instance). I’m, like, 92% happy. I’d’ve rather gone for a wool with grey undertones rather than yellow ones.