Overall great design. The pockets are brilliant, and it has many nice cool tricks such as short rows shoulder shaping.

Instructions could be clearer though! The short rows shaping bit could perhaps do with a chart or some bulleted step by step instructions as it is difficult to follow long paragraphs while you are knitting.

I started with 3mm needles, and the gauge was way too loose and quite uneven. After changing to 2.75mm, it looked much better. Too bad there was a lot of the 3mm which I didn’t undo.

Just so people know, it doesn’t take that long to finish this. I only took awhile because I didn’t knit the whole time, but took many breaks to knit other projects, spend time with boyfriend etc etc. Also at one point, I had spent about 2 active weeks altogether undoing parts of it because of gauge problem and also because I changed my mind about the length, and also once because the yarn broke in the middle of the tunic and ran all over the place into quite a fuzzy mess, it was so hard to see what was what with the low stitch definition, so I’ve had to undo reknit rows and rows. And this yarn, in this colour, with its low visibility, is a nightmare to undo.

17 Nov 2012

Not convinced that the yarn will be enough. The 10 skeins look really tiny, though that is even 2 skeins more than specified in the pattern. We’ll see.

20 Nov 2012

Didn’t think I would like this yarn, but now I’ve grown to really like it. It does knit up very well, and isn’t as sheer as I had feared, being only 4 ply. The colour is very nice too. It does split quite easily, but that can be avoided if knitting loosely.

Have finished the shoulder shaping and have just divided the sleeves and body. Currently knitting the straightforward body bit before pockets shaping.

Have tried it on for fit, and it looks great. The collar and raglan sleeves shaping turned out really well, I think this will become a favourite in my wardrobe.

Just hope the yarn will be enough. Started the second skein a few days ago.

22 Nov 2012

Stupid mistake yesterday meant I had to rip 7 rows. But while ripping I realised how difficult it was to pick up this yarn because of how thin and fuzzy it is. It was extremely hard to work out which stitches were from which row. Hence ended up ripping another 3 rows so I could pick it up cleanly. Spent 5 hours in total! And set back by 10 rows. I have the patience of a saint.

29 Nov 2012

Took a 3 day break to knit Crab Cloche instead.

Now finished 3rd set of 14 rows pocket increase. 244 sts on needle, and I realised to my horror I had let my gauge lapse to 22 sts per 4inch instead of 26 sts. Which means I am 6 inches wider than expected!

:( Too many rows to undo? Perhaps this is going to be my maternity dress instead… for twins.

Also that means I’m using more yarn than expected. I might really run short.

1 Jan 2013

After ribbing back about half of the length due to extremely loose gauge (how could I not notice earlier?), and later a few rows again due to yarn snapping a few rows down, I’m now back to almost where I was on 29 Nov.

Warning, the yarn is quite fragile, and got to watch out of it snapping, and when it does, it is much better to just do a repair by weaving in a new yarn rather than being smart ass and drop the stitches down.

21 Jan 2013

Finally after all those endless rows of stst I have finished knitting the length. Was difficult to decide when to stop, as I didn’t want it too long like in some other people’s pictures (and I heard alpaca stretches quite a bit over time) but I didn’t want it to show my pants either. I think this length is good… that is if it doesn’t stretch or shrink.

Made the the ribbing longer so it looks chunkier and curl less. BO’d using Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewn BO so it can stretch enough to go over my big childbearing hips.

24 Jan 2013

Knitting sleeves now. Tried using 2 circulars, but it is much easier with one circular using the magic loop method. And really love these 4” Chiaogoo Twist interchangeable tips.

28 Jan 2013

Hope the unevenness of the stitches won’t be too obvious where the top of the tunic I started with 3mm, and then somewhere after the yoke I changed to 2.75mm.

10 Feb 2013

Finished! Re-did the pockets 3 times as I had bounded off on the wrong edge, and also changed my mind about the length. Made them shorter so they are less bulky.

Also made the entire thing a bit shorter as I heard alpaca knits tend to elongate.

Mightily pleased with myself now.