30jan11 - I’ve just finished the sleeve chart, and since I was knitting while taking care of a bunch of my children’s choir kids, I didn’t notice until now that about halfway through the chart, I reversed a cable :(

I contemplated ripping back and re-doing it (it really kind of ruins the basket-weave effect), but at the same time … It’s not like it’s right on the front flap of the cardigan … and if I replicate it on the other sleeve, they will match … anyway we’ll see about THAT. But I’ve decided to just leave it.

UPDATE - As I was examining my work, I realized that I’d reversed not one, but TWO cables :S. I determined that if there was no way to fix it, then I’d rip back. Just for kicks, I tried some nifty patchwork and BOY and I pleased with myself! You can barely tell!

Here’s how I did it: I took part of the cable that accidentally went under instead of over, and started sewing duplicate stitch into the stitches with the same yarn. When I reached a spot close to the cable that crossed over this one (that should have crossed UNDER), I looped 3 stitches up onto a knitting needle. I knit 3 or 4 rows in ST ST like that, then grafted it back down to the cable on the other side via duplicate stitch again. You really can’t tell that i ever made a mistake in the first place. I’m so pleased with myself for figuring this out. It took me a lot less time to fix it this way than ripping back about 8”!

3feb11 So, after careful consideration, I decided to rip out the sleeve anyway. After reading dayana’s thoughts, I realized that I won’t wear this sweater if the sleeves are as wide and floopy as they are written, and also … I HATE BOBBLES! I omit them from every pattern i do, and yet for some reason I decided to include them in this one? RRRRRIIIPPPPPPP.

19feb11 I haven’t had way too much time to knit in the last few weeks, and I’ve also been spinning, so i’m taking my time with this. After ripping the sleeve, I cast on from the waist, and have now gotten myself to about 5 or 6 inches up. Slowly but surely …

20feb11 Well, I lost about an hour of work yesterday when i realized that 4 rows back, I cabled ALL the cables over instead of under. I know I figured out that super amazing trick to fix this mistake, but I didn’t want to do it for a WHOLE row, and it was only 4 rows back (i though to myself), so I ripped it back the 4 rows and it took me 40 minutes to pick up all the stitches.

5mar11 I have now reached the bust increases, so I figure I’m about 45% of the way through.

8mar11 I’ve taken Dayana’s advice and fashioned mini-sleeves to attach to the body and work through the yoke THEN do the sleeves top down. I think this will work well. Also, I can probably easily block the body before adding the sleeves, which will be good. The cable panel is quite tight and the right front doesn’t seem to be as long as the left front because of it. Hopefully blocking will sort this out. I mean, it’s not hugely noticeable, but it’s noticeable to ME.

11mar11 So I’m just about finished up to the collar, and will be picking up the sleeves and knitting those top down soon. I’m not sure how, but i hadn’t been keeping close count whilst knitting this (i don’t normally have to - if you follow the instructions, you normally have the right amount of stitches!) and i counted for the first time right before the short rows. I was supposed to have 142 stitches, but I had 150. I wasn’t interested in backtracking to figure out where I didn’t decrease (it was probably on the front panel, actually, so forget that). I just added in some extra decreases in the short rows, which seems to have worked excellently. I am now only 12 rows away from the top of the collar. Yay!

Oh ALSO! I’m super annoyed because Cascade is always touting the fact that they’re not supposed to have any dye lots, but there’s definitely a slight variation in one of the skeins that I used and i mean … again it’s probably only noticeable to me, but it’s annoying. Because when I point it out to people they’re like “oh shit! you’re right!”

19mar11 lalalalala knitting sleeves top down. Frantabulous! I like that I can keep trying on the sleeve and decide when I want to start the cable pattern. I think I will start it just after the elbow, because whatever, if it’s too short, I can just add another cable repeat or two, or more ribbing, or whatever. I’ll just have to remember to take good notes and repeat on the other sleeve.

Another few thoughts:
1) I have blocked the body of the sweater before sleeving it up, which really evened out the stitches, and helped loosen up the cable pannel a little, but even with buttons, I’m not sure that this sweater will keep closed properly.

2) I didn’t place the button holes properly, because I was dumb while reading the pattern and I didn’t take into account that I’d have to change things when I added extra repeats near the beginning either. So, I have uneven button holes.

3) For the two reasons I just mentioned, I think I will have to find buttons that can JUST fit through my stitches, and use one on every cable repeat to keep this sucker closed. I highly recommend to anyone considering knitting this that they place a button hole in each cable repeat. I will not sew this shut like Dayana, because I do not want to have to pull it over every time I put it on.

13Aug11 Phew! Well … what a busy year! It took me almost 8 months to finish this sweater! Now it is done, haha!!! All in all, I’m very happy with it. I decided to sew the front shut, like Dayana, adding only two buttons at the bottom for embellishment and one at the collar for those freezing cold days that I might want o shut the collar all the way. Another thought: I highly advocate starting to knit a fitted sweater, then losing 20 lbs and trying on that same sweater. It will fit so much more nicely!