01-21-2022

I haven’t been knitting much! Getting back on track now. I finished the ten rows of ribbing yesterday, and did the set up row this morning. I hope to get more done later in the day.

Set up row: I’m between sizes, as usual, so I’m knitting the larger size but doing the moss stitch section for the smaller size. I want any extra fabric, the boxy part, to be in stockinette at the sides, not have a too-wide swath across my chest and risk the cables being pushed too far apart.

So my set-up row is as follows:
k19, p2, k9 (cable), p2, k2, Moss 22, k2, p2, k9 (cable), p2, k19

I’ll let you know how it goes!

02-27-2022

Got back to this after what seems like forever. Last time I worked on it, I had started the front armhole shaping, binding off the first two stitches of the row, then working in pattern across the front. I had gotten about halfway through the seed stitch section, when I got interrupted, then didn’t pick this up again until today. I never stop mid-row, so it was definitely an odd feeling. :-) But now I completed that row and worked through the remaining rows of the 8-row cable pattern. I have probably two or three more repeats of that pattern until the collar shaping section.

03-08-2022

First, I want to say that I love this pattern and am so excited for this sweater. It looks great so far and I know it will be so warm and cozy and feel perfect for our dreary Seattle winter.

That said, I think the pattern could be a bit clearer in places. In the section titled “FRONT Armhole shaping” she has you do two rows containing some bind offs as you separate front from back. The next instruction is “Continue in pattern.” I assumed she meant this new pattern, and I continued to bind off stitches every row for several more rows. Eventually I realized that there was no way this could be right and produce a boxy sweater. So I checked several other patterns for the same style and indeed, usually few or no stitches are bound off when separating front from back. (My only previous experience in a bottom up pullover was a tank top, which bound off many stitches and continued to decrease stitches throughout the armhole shaping in order to have the very narrow shoulder strap.) I believe a more common way of phrasing this instruction is “work even” rather than “continue in pattern.” “Work even” specifically indicates to discontinue any increasing or decreasing while maintaining the established pattern (in this case, the cables, moss stitch panel, etc.).

Point 1: Instead of “Continue in pattern until x cm from armhole bindoff” it should say, “Work even in pattern until x cm from armhole bindoff.”

Second, although I’m quite familiar with moss stitch (seed stitch in US) and didn’t pay much attention to the instructions, I did eventually notice that she said that once the back and front are separated and you’re knitting back and forth, that the moss stitch pattern will always be “k1 p1” every row. That is true if the moss stitch panel is an odd number of stitches, but not so if it’s even. In this pattern, some sizes are odd and some even. So this needs to be clarified. I personally like “knit the purls and purl the knits” which works no matter how many stitches or whether you’re in the round or knitting flat. I do know a friend who came across that instruction in a pattern and told me it made no sense to her. I’m not sure of the solution. It’s an easy enough stitch, but takes a lot of words to describe clearly. Maybe modifying the pattern so that all the sizes use an odd number of stitches. Or maybe just saying, if you’re knitting sizes a, c, and e follow this instruction, and if you’re knitting sizes b, d, and f do this instead. I don’t know how a tech editor would approach that one, but I do believe it should be clarified in case someone trying this pattern is new to seed stitch.

Point 2: The instructions for moss (seed) stitch in the “Abbreviations” section don’t apply to all the sizes. “Knit the purls and purl the knits” is a good work around for better clarity. Alternately, making sure all the sizes use an odd number of stitches in the moss stitch panel would also clear up any potential confusion.

Like I said, I’m loving the pattern and these problems would not trip up an experienced knitter. I did get thrown off by the “continue in pattern” and had to rip out several rows, though.

03-08-2022

I re-knit the rows I had messed up, then did another 8-row repeat. I feel back on track and really excited about this sweater!

03-09-2022

Did another 8 rows on the front today. Just one more inch, 4 rows I think, until I advance to collar shaping. Loving how this looks!

03-10-2022

Completed the Right Side Collar Shaping today. I ended up doing 5 more rows, then started collar shaping on RS, row 6 of cable pattern. After the shaping and the work even rows, I finished on a WS row, row 1 of the cable pattern. Placed stitches on holder for grafting later. Tomorrow the left!

03-18-2022

Reached my 15 cm/ 6 in goal on the back section. Next, knit six more rows, then the back collar shaping.

05-24-2022

Another two months gone by and no work on this… until today. Did the six work even rows on the back, then the back collar shaping, 3 needle bind off at the shoulders, then picked up 56 stitches for the collar, and 8 rows of 1x1 ribbing. Bound off in pattern. Sleeves are next.

Picking up stitches -- from left shoulder, picked up 8 sts to the holder, then knit the 14 on the holder, then picked up 8 to the right shoulder, picked up 6 down the back to the holder, 14 on the back holder, then picked up 6 more to the left shoulder where I started, 56 stitches total.

Suggestion for clarity: The instruction “Be sure to end on an odd numbered round,” which appears at the end of the body section right before the Front Collar Shaping section, needs to be repeated after Back Armhole Shaping before Collar Shaping. I ended up having my RS and WS all wrong during the collar shaping, although it didn’t seem to mess anything up.

Clarity suggestion 2: Also, this is really kind of funny, but the instructions never tell you to do the shoulder seams. After completing the fourth shoulder, it says to BO or place the stitches on a holder to graft later. Then the next instruction, for the Collar, says to start at the shoulder seam. It seems pretty obvious that it’s now or never to graft the shoulders, but it would be reassuring if the instructions stated that explicitly.

Tried it on and it’s really cute! Of course, I took so long the cooler weather is on its way out, but if I buckle down, I might get to wear it for some cool evenings yet before summer.

05-25-2022

Sleeves
I picked up from the shoulder, although in retrospect I should have picked up from the underarm. I picked up 64 stitches as directed, roughly four out of every five stitches.

Knit 10 rounds, then half a round to get me to the underarm position where I assume the decreases are supposed to go. I counted this half round as the first round of the four round decrease set. I did 12 sets, rather than go to the second set of decreases, because I have short arms, plus I think the shoulders were wider than I anticipated, making the sleeve already start quite low on my arm. I decreased until 40 stitches remained, then knit to the right length, which was three more rows. I didn’t have the right size DPNs, and was running out of patience with the magic loop, so tried to do the cuffs on size 8 DPNs, which didn’t work. They were way too small. So I ripped that out. Will maybe magic loop it tomorrow; otherwise it will be next week before I can get to my LYS for needles.

05-26-2022

A new day and a new perspective. I magic looped the cuff easily and it fits perfectly. I have a conference over the next five days, so I’m not sure if I’ll get to the second sleeve this week or not. Maybe it will be a perfect project to keep my hands busy while listening to lectures. Maybe it will be too much of a distraction and I will prefer to pay rapt attention to the speakers. We’ll see.

06-02-2022

Finished the second sleeve May 27, and have been slowly weaving in ends when I get time.

Sleeves: 115 grams each

Finally completed the sweater today! I love it and it looks great.