June 7, 2020

Hmm! I suspect that if I ever do this pattern again I’ll definitely be changing things around when it comes to the stripes.

Firstly, and most annoyingly, the six-row repeat means that each stripe always finishes at the opposite side to the one where you next need that yarn again. Many many ends to try to weave in and the changing colours make it a pain to try to hide them.

Secondly, I didn’t realise how much working in BLO would affect the look of the stripes. If I had, I would probably have put the brown in the centre of the group of three contrast colours. Not knowing how the centre colour would almost disappear under the other two, I simply replaced the pattern colours with the closest equivalent in my palette, so cream replaced pale lemon, cinnamon replaced red and cyan replaced slate blue… Of course, it depends which side you want to call the right side, but with all those ends, you kind of have to pick a right side and accept your ends will have to show on the wrong side.

July 7, 2020

So… I’m actually quite happy with the end result, but there’s so much I would do differently if I were ever brave enough to tackle this again.

First and foremost of which would be to amalgamate the front and back pieces and work in the round (but still turning at the round end) wherever possible. My seaming at the sides of crocheted fabric is just nasty.

Not sure I would bother with back loop only thing. I think the Deramores aran is hefty enough on its own to give a good warm sweater without added thickness.

Lastly, unless I think of anything else, I would probably only have stripes top, bottom and on the sleeves.

Oh, and I would resist the temptation to work over the yarn just used for a full row and carry it up the edges of the hood. That way I won’t need to make a separate edging/cord channel.

NOTE FOR ANYONE TRYING TO WORK OUT IF THE PATTERN WILL WORK FOR THEIR DOGGY: My model, Ellie Mae, is a cocker spaniel and I made the biggest size. Okay, so, her brother Isaac the Dalmatian/lab cross doesn’t look much if any wider across the shoulders, but E.M. certainly isn’t swamped in it