I was thrilled to learn that my sweater had taken a first place ribbon at the 2018 Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival! Special thanks to Lynn McCown for making me step outside of my comfort zone, Strings Attached Yarns (Dayton, Ohio), and The Cool Kids (you know who you are).

I did not knit the first two pattern charts. I started with the border, and then went straight to the snowflake chart. I am short in height. Really short. And did not need the full length of the sweater.

Count carefully when placing the markers for the center back and sides.

Armhole steeks: When you get to the armhole steeks, pay attention to the pattern on either side of the steeks. You want the vertical pattern to end in the same place at the armhole steeks on both sides of the back and front. I messed up and in order to have the sleeves begin on the same row all around the armhole, I had to pick up the sleeve stitches one row further in from the armhole steek on the left sleeve than on the right sleeve. I know this is not the best explanation, but once you start knitting the pattern, you should be able to understand. You can see in the seventh photo my armyhole steek, and you can see that the vertical pattern on either side of the steek is not the same. You want it to be the same.

Neckline decreases on the front: Do the neckline decreases so that the white or contrasting colored yarn is on top. I did mine in blue, and wish I had made sure the white yarn showed instead of the blue. It states this in the pattern but I missed it.

MACHINE STITCH THE STEEKS! Do not rely on crochet. Crochet can slide off the stitches, and once it starts, all hope is lost.

I used a three-needle bind off on the shoulder seams. You may not want to do three needel bind off on the steek portion, but at least kitchner those steek stitches together at the shoulder. At the neckline, there is no steek on the back of the neck to match up to the steeking on the front. I just sort of wove those stitches from the front steek into the underside of the three-needle bind off.

After I stitched the shoulder seams, I knit a row of purls across the back of the neck. This helped tremendously with the stockinette curl that was occuring. To eliminate the stress at the shoulder seam on the neckline, I used a binder clip to secure the shoulder seam until I could put the i-cord around the front and neck (see photo).

Sleeves: When rotating the chart to pick up the stitches around the armhole steek, be sure to mark the chart top. Since the chart is symettrical, it is easy to flip it the other way. This doesn’t really make a difference unless you are marking the chart to show which rows you are decreasing.

Track which row you decrease on the top of the sleeve so that both sleeves are identical. I have heavy upper arms (good ol’ peasant stock). I only decreased a couple of times at the top of the sleeve, and then knit evenly almost to the elbow before I started the regular decreasing. Don’t secure the float in the line of CDD stitches down the outside of the arm. It can show through. I carried my floats on one or two stitches from that center stitch.

Underarms: I continued carrying the blue down the underarm as a center stitch (no decreases). You want to make sure that the pattern is mirrored on either side of this stitch.

Sleeve cuffs: instead of ribbing at the bottom of the sleeves, I knit the pattern for the border that is at the bottom of the sweater. I reversed the border on each sleeve so that the “arrows” point the same direction as the arrows on the border on each side of the sweater.

There were two places (see the photo with the pink outlined circle) where I got off pattern. After I finished the sweater, I went back and duplicate stitched to correct my mistakes.

I did not wet block the sweater. I steamed it heavily, with lots of pressure for just a second or two.

Nordic sweater clasps were purchased from WormeWoole on Etsy. She has several designs available and ships quickly. Great customer service.

When I first started the sweater, it was taking me over an hour to finish one row around of the snowflake chart. My speed did increase gradually.

I used KnitCompanion. According to KnitCompanion, I have over 200 hours in this sweater.

I hope this helps someone. The pattern is written for a knitter who has some experience. I did contact Cully at Schoolhouse Press once or twice for clarification, and he was always helpful.