21-02-2023

I have been a bit concerned that this garment is too large. There is a mistake in the pattern. The gauge is 30 stitches over 4in in pattern on 2.75mm needles. The schematic shows 17.5 inches for 132 stitches on 3.25mm needles which is also 30 stitches over 4in. It can’t have the same gauge on two different needle sizes!

So my interpretation of this is that the entire pattern was supposed to be knit on 2.75mm but for some reason the book author changed it to 3.25 without rechecking the numbers or testing.

23-02-2023

I have been trying to decide whether to knit the rest of the garment on 2.75mm needles or decrease the stitch count and knit with 3.25s.

At the current time I am planning to extend the 2.75mm section to 10” from CO instead of 9” then will increase as per pattern. Most likely I will knit the rest of the garment on 2.75mm.

25-02-2023

The garment is a bore to knit on 2.75mm, it just feels a bit too tight and cumbersome. At 10” I have switched to the 3.25mm needle again, but I still have it reduced to 110 stitches instead of 132. I might consider going up to 121 stitches, but I think 132 stitches will be too wide.

26-02-2023

Increasing 11 stitches to 121 at 11” from cast-on

01-03-2023

I decided to increase back up to 132 stitches between 12” and 14” since this is the larger part of the bust. Then I’ll reduce it by 11 stitches again from 14” to 16” or it will be too big.

23-03-2023

Enrolling my project into CM March competition

10-04-2023

I decided to keep the back at 121 stitches all around and have only the front go up to 132 around the bust.

The original pattern has a horrible mistake because it tells you to do your swatch with the smallest needle size but then it tells you to knit with the larger knitting size. Yet the schematic shows the width that would have been present only with the smallest needle.

I have knit both pieces to the underarms now and due this mistake in the pattern the bottom of the garment is 20.5” instead of 17.5” like the schematic says. This includes 2 selvedge stitches each side, so in reality 136 stitches are 20.5” on the 3.25mm needle.

The top of the garment is supposed to be 13.5” which means I need to end up with 90 stitches + 4 selvedge after splitting for the underarms, not 102 + selvedge as the pattern says.

But, for another exciting twist, I just measured an existing top that fits me and it is 16” across the top, although if I put a measuring tape to my shoulders I am about 13.5-14” so I honestly feel a bit stuck for what stitch count I should pick here.

In any case, the actual gauge of my garment is 6.63 stitches per inch with 3.25mm needle so whatever I decide needs to take into account this gauge.

12-04-2023

I’m 4 rows from the yoke detailing and it suddenly occurred to me that there is an even number of knitted side of ribs, so the faux cables will be off centre. There is no way for me to alternate them as per pattern because it will look off. Reviewing the original photograph, that one also has a knit side of rib at the sleeve seam whereas mine has the purl side of the ribs there. If the knits and purls had been reversed at cast on it would have been correct, but the pattern did not suggest it.

14-01-2024

This project weighs 245g