It’s taken me just over a month to get to the sleeves. I’m doing the sleeves two at a time with magic loop and had to rip them out after 25 rows and start over, so I lost a day there. Over all, I’m happy with the way it’s turning out. I’ve made a couple of obvious (to me) mistakes in the body and the yarn is fuzzing quite a bit but it’s going to be a gorgeous sweater.

Done!! It’s absolutely full of mistakes, some obvious, some not, but it’s done and I love it. The section I found the most challenging were the shoulders - messing up the shoulders left me with too many stitches for the hood, so I just kept decreasing until I got there and the hood probably looks nothing like it’s supposed to, but I’m still happy with it. The sleeves are MILES (or at least 4 inches) too long and I’d like it if they were looser, but I chose to ignore all the comments about the sleeves and knit them as written, so …

Anyway, I love it. It’s cozy and warm and fantastic, despite its flaws.

On the off chance anyone reads all this, here are the things I found most helpful/important:

• The first two rows are confusing but they set up the pattern going forward. Write them out for yourself, stitch by stitch. I cast on, knit and frogged those rows four times before I found that suggestion and was able to do them right. There are some pre-made spreadsheets the group has, but not for every size. I just wrote it out.
  • Put stitch markers around each of the bigger fancy cables.
  • Once you get in the groove, don’t forget to check your charts frequently. The big cable crosses come at weird times and you don’t want to miss one.
  • Consider doing the sleeves two at a time with magic loop. Know they knit up longer and skinnier than you’d think. There are suggestions in the KAL group on how to mod them.
  • Read the pattern super carefully. There are a couple places I goofed up because I read it wrong. Like, the waist shaping in the back. It reads “Work in pattern to 1 st before center back seed stitch panel, ssk, work to 1 st from end of seed st panel, k2tog, work in pattern to end.” I read that wrong somehow and thought I was putting the first decrease in the middle of the back seed stitch panel. I figured it out after a bit but there’s an ugly spot there on mine.
  • The shoulders are hard. Maybe put in a lifeline? I should have. One of the decreases is a sssk. I missed an s and it threw it all off. Also, watch that you do enough repeats. The saddle winds up being 26 rows for each shoulder.
  • Trust the pattern. There are parts where it doesn’t seem to make sense or you can’t figure out how it’s going to wind up doing what it’s supposed to.. it all works out in the end. (Me: But it’s going to eat this cable! I’m decreasing a cable!! Oh. It’s supposed to do that. Okay.)