Someone asked me for lessons on a simple sweater.
I picked this pattern for her because it is simple and quick and gives you a good idea on the construction of a raglan sweater. The top down knit sweater can be tried on and tweaked easily to your body measurements. Once the basic pattern is understood, different stitches and motifs can be incorporated.
I liked the look so much that I started a sweater for myself. You cannot have enough basic sweaters( to show off shawls better), right?!

For a higher neckline I closed the front and started knitting in the round at 54 back stitches , 20 each at left and right front, CO 14. I am working this in size Medium.

For a better fit around my shoulders I make it a little smaller than medium. I stopped increases at 51 stitches for each one of the sleeves and 68 sts for each front and back. To get the correct depth I knitted four rounds in knit before separating body and sleeves.

Continue with body with waist shaping: CO 3, SM, CO 3 after slipping the sleeve stitches onto a short cable. 160 sts total at this Point.
For minimal waist shaping I work the decrease round five instead of eight times every seventh round.
Interesting thing about the waist shaping: the decreases and increases are over the back stitches only; the count of the front stitches remain the same throughout.

Started increases 21 rows after final decrease and did five increases ( every sixth round) to get to the same number of stitches as before (180).

As this is such a straight forward ( a little boring ) stockinette stitch knitting, I got a little more creative with the ribbing.
I am using yarn a shade darker ( Nest). When I was two rounds from the ribbing I did one round in Nest , then one round in Barn Owl and then started the ribbing.
Round 1-3: P3, K1tb
Round 4: K
Repeat round 1-4 one more time.
Then repeat round 1-3 and bind off using Jenni’s Stretchy Bind Off.
4.30. I did the neckband the same way, but binding off on round 7.
It is looking good, but I am waiting to continue with the sleeves for a little, working on other projects in between.

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August 6: I have been waiting so long for my student to catch up, but I think she lost interest. To be fair it is a tad hot and thus hard to think about knitting a winter sweater.
But I decided to finish this and set up the sleeves to knit in the round two at a time on two circular needles.
I will knit tapered sleeves and should be done in no time at all.
Instead of following the pattern for the decreases I am using the formula I learned at Ann Budd’s sweater design class.
August 8: Restarted because the picked up stitches at the underarm looked too messy.
August 11: Wondering if I have enough MC yarn left. I have 40 more rows to do before the cuff and 18 g yarn left for each sleeve. I will weigh it again after the next decrease in ten rows. Result: Still 15 g left after ten rows; only used 3 g; I have plenty to finish the sleeves! Hurray!
August 12: I tried on the sweater 21 rows before finishing the sleeve and thought it will be too long. I ripped back 15 rows and only worked on one sleeve now. I did more frequent decreases only to see that after binding off the sleeve is too short. It looks ok at first, but after doing a stretch test it is too short. I like the cuff to go all the way covering my wrist.
August 13: I looked at my math again and all calculations are right. So I am ready for “Take 3” on the sleeve
August 15: Came out perfectly. I like a simple sweater ; it will make the perfect backdrop for my shawls.