01-11-2020

Neck removes center 17 sts of the back and returns 36 sts to the front for the V neck. The repeats for the color work are 18 sts wide.

Plan is to add 4 sts to front and back for additional circumference, and to work a k2tog at the base of the V-neck when the two halves are joined, so that the 17 sts from the back neck plus one full repeat are added back, allowing the pattern to maintain its centeredness.

To add additional length: add 2 rows to each horizontal stripe and extend the colorwork pattern an extra row (2 rows for the diamond). Need to figure out how many sts to cast on for the sleeves to make sure they are long enough. The crocheted cuffs are 12 single crochet sts wide, which I think will make them 2.5’’ wide. There is a 2 row border on each long edge, as well, bringing the cuff to about 3’’
The sleeves need to be long enough to blouse, as well

As written, the back of the sweater is 85 sts wide, plus 65 sts for each sleeve, 215 sts total, 43’’ wide, plus 3’’ for each cuff = 49’’ total. I need a couple more inches than that, at least 52’’, possibly more, depending on how the blousing works.
89 sts for the back plus 71 for each sleeve would give 52.2 total. Need to find a way to test if that length will work.

Revised plan for adding body length
add a horizontal stripe of the blue V pattern (plus plain stripe). Rearrange stripe sequence from bottom up from
Red, plain, yellow, plain, blue, plain, black plain
to
blue, plain, red, plain, yellow, plain, black, plain, blue, plain.
That keeps the patterns with the correct offsets and adds 20 rows, which is almost 3’’, and I believe will give me the correct length.

Will add an underarm gusset by increasing 1 st every other row at the selvedge. This will add width and depth, so the number of sts to CO will be less than the 71 sts planned, but the incs + CO sts will add up to 71.

Plans for the arm slashes:
the pattern calls for binding off the first 25 sts of the sleeve on one row, then casting on 25 on the following row. The crocheted cuff is sewn to this edge as part of the finishing. Thinking about maintaining the selvedge to keep the slash closed at the edge, to help with the seaming process. Might even work the slashes as one-row buttonholes. They are finished with a crocheted edging, so it shouldn’t make a visible difference.

Spent some time trying to figure out what sort of single crochet gauge was expected for the sleeve cuffs and collar squares, based on the crochet hook indicated. It seems to be a very firm gauge (equivalent to the stockinette gauge)

01-22-2020

Yarn arrived today! Need to swatch to determine crochet hook and gauge I will use for collar and cuffs. Cuff width will play into how long the sleeves will be and cuff length will determine fit around wrist.

01-25-2020

CO today using size 5 needles for the double stranded garter stitch hem. Using a 7 even for single stranded would have resulted in a wider border than the stockinette, and with two strands, it would have ended up very wide. Swatched with size 5 and could get 5 sts/in with the double strand. Using my 14’’ straights for this project, because of the flat stockinette and intarsia combo. First 5 rows complete. 1.1%

01-26-2020

Ripped out two-stranded garter st border and started again with a single strand, worked on US 7/4.5mm. First stripe with intarsia motif completed, plus following stripe of black/ buttercream/black. 8.8%

01-30-2020

Blue V, Red Diamond, and Black Diagonal complete. 15%

02-29-2020

Done with the back, sleeves and neck increases, and about halfway down the front (blue V and yellow triangle complete) 75%ish complete.

03-04-2020

Done with the knitted motif stripes, and just need to do the garter stitch hem and the knitted part of this sweater will be done. Then on to the crocheted bits! 88% done

03-13-2020

Squares are crocheted for the collar. Pattern calls for sweater to be knit with two strands of Shetland floss, a woolen-spun fingering weight yarn. I used worsted weight, which is an equivalent yarn. The crocheted bits are meant to be crocheted with a single strand of the Shetland Floss/fingering weight, so I had to divide the worsted weight yarn in half to get the right weight for working the collar and cuffs. 95%

06-27-2020

Re-crocheting the collar squares. Blue and red done, 3 of 6 buttercream done and 1 of 2 yellow done. Outlining the slashes with a row of black and a row of buttercream. Not sure how these are going to actually not roll, even with 2 rows of sc. Will have to steam block to see if it works.

06-28-2020

2 buttercream collar squares to go, and then I can join and outline the collar squares. Finally got the hang of separating the 4-ply worsted weight project yarn into 2 strands of 2-ply yarn for these crocheted bits.

06-29-2020

Collar squares complete and chained together. Outlining on 3 sides of each square with black. Will then repeat with buttercream.

Pinned to neck of sweater to make sure it was the right length. Thinking of outlining neck with sc so that I can slip stitch neck to collar more easily.

07-01-2020

All ends woven in. Sewing sleeve to wrist band at a ratio of about 2 rows on the sleeve to one sc on the wrist band