I did this as a test knit for the designer, Tina Good. It’s an adult version of her Neverland Hoody - Wendy. I recently completed that child’s version for my grandniece in a size 6. Both garments turned out VERY cute!

Pattern yarn: Bulky (131 yds per 100 gr)
Pattern gauge (size 10 needles US):
14 x 24 = 4 inches

My yarn: Aran (170 yds per 100 gr)
My gauge (size 9 needles US):
16 x 22 = 4 inches

Due to my finer yarn and smaller needles, I followed the instructions for the 1X size. This resulted in a medium size sweater. I like my clothes to fit a little loose, and I wanted the front bands to overlap (for extra warmth), rather than just meet at center front. I’m tall (5’-8”) and thin, with broad shoulders and long arms. My body measurements: 34” - 26” - 35”

I was a bit surprised that this adult version isn’t really a sweater. It’s a 3/4 length coat if you follow the pattern instructions. It would be very easy to shorten the pattern. Because this is knit top-down, you can try on the garment as often as necessary to check the fit and length. Since I’m tall, I followed the length instructions in the pattern for “Tall” - 27” long body before beginning the moss stitch bottom border. The hem comes to a few inches above my knees, and will be even longer if you use bulky weight yarn. Keep in mind that the sheer weight of this garment will stretch the yarn and add 2 - 3 inches of length by the time you finish the hem. For example, I found that the underarm part of the sweater had stretched about 2 inches lower by the time the skirt part was complete and I tried it on. I used almost 5 balls (500 grams) of yarn before the sleeves, hood or front band were even added, so it’s a lot of weight hanging from your shoulders.

I’m SO glad that I didn’t buy the bulky weight yarn that the pattern calls for. The coat is already very voluminous (and quite heavy) with the Aran weight yarn I’m using. As I mentioned above, the weight of the garment adds to the overall length/stretch, so keep this in mind when determining length. Try the garment on frequently as you’re knitting.

As you can see from my photo, I took a bit of liberty with the sleeves, adding 14 rounds of shirring stitch above the elbows to match the empire waist band. I think it turned out really cute, and Tina is welcome to add this as an option in her pattern if she’d like. Below are notes for how I did my sleeves. I have skinny, long arms, so you should make adjustments per your own measurements.

My Sleeve Directions:

My upper arm circumference: 9 inches
My arm length from shoulder bone to wrist: 22 inches

With size 9 needles (US), pick up 52 sts from holder, and another 14 sts under the arm per pattern instructions (size 1X). (66 sts)

Rnd 1 & 2: Knit

Rnd 3: Knit to end of round, K2tog at end. (65 sts)

Rnds 4 - 7: Knit

Rnd 8: Knit to end of round, K2tog at end. (64 sts)

Rnds 9 - 12: Knit

Rnd 13: Knit to end of round, K2tog at end. (63 sts)

Rnds 14 - 17: Knit

Rnd 18: Knit to end of round, K2tog at end. (62 sts)

Rnds 19 - 22: Knit

Rnd 23: Knit to end of round, K2tog at end. (61 sts)

Rnd 24: ^(K2, K2tog), repeat from ^ around. K3 at end. (47 sts) Note that it’s necessary to end with an ODD number of stitches after this decrease round. Otherwise, the next part won’t work.

Switch to size 10 needles (US), or one size larger than what you used before.

^(K2nd, K1st), repeat from ^ around for 14 rounds. This “shirring” stitch is similar to what is described for the empire waistband in Tina’s pattern. You knit the second stitch first, but don’t slip it off the needle until after the first stitch is knitted. When you get to the end of each round, there will be one odd stitch left. Transfer this to the other needle and proceed around, working in sets of two stitches. I found that my shirring stitch looks slightly different when worked in the round (as opposed to back and forth for the empire waistband). However, it wasn’t a huge difference in appearance. Perhaps someone can explain why this happened? I think it actually looks better when I work this shirring stitch in the round.

Switch back to size 9 needles (US), or one size smaller than you used for the shirring.

Rnd 39: ^(K5, M1), repeat from ^ around. K2 at end (56 sts) Note that it’s necessary to end with an EVEN number of stitches, in preparation for the moss stitch cuff later on. For my M1 stitch, I did a KFAB (knit front and back of same stitch) increase. So if you do it this way, it’s actually ^(K4, KFAB), repeat …

Proceed with stockinette stitch for 8 inches more. For me, this was 43 more rounds.

Do 7 repeats of the moss stitch per pattern instructions. This added 5.5 more inches to my sleeve using the Aran weight yarn.

Bind off per pattern instructions.

Note to self: The sleeve shirring was a spur of the moment idea after I’d already done the prior gradual decreases. Gradual sleeve decreases prior to the shirring are probably not necessary. Just do all the decreases in the round immediately preceding the arm shirring, making sure that you end up with an ODD number of stitches.

End of My Sleeve Directions

Begin My Front Band Directions

Note: Be sure to pick up an EVEN number of stitches (340 in my case) if you use my method for the front band. The pattern calls for the front bands to MEET in the middle with button loops for the buttons. I intentionally made my sweater large enough so that the bands would OVERLAP. I used 8 large buttons, and made buttonholes on the right side of the sweater.

Also, I did another thing different than the pattern directions. When I knit the child’s version, I didn’t like the appearance of the HEM part of the front band. The little purl ridges didn’t look good. I was hoping to change that hem part to something that matched the rest of the coat’s hem. The simple solution turned out to be one row of stockinette stitch on the bottom edge of both sides. This doesn’t roll/curl at all, due to the nature of the adjacent moss stitch:

Row 1: K K P K P K …… P K P K P K

Row 2: P K P K P K …… P K P K P P

Row 3: K P K P K P …… K P K P K K

Row 4: P P K P K P …… K P K P K P

I repeated these 4 rows three more times for a total of 16 rows of moss stitch (or more, if you’re knitting a larger size). I did the buttonholes in rows 8 and 9 like this:

Row 8 buttonholes: k2tog, yo needle 3 times, continue in moss pattern.

Row 9 buttonholes: Work moss stitch pattern as usual, working one stitch into the large yarn-over from the previous row.

When I was all done knitting the sweater, I cut 8 pieces of yarn, threaded each on a tapestry needle and worked a blanket stitch by hand around each buttonhole for extra strength/reinforcement. You can see a closeup photo of a buttonhole at left. The start and finish ends were woven into the seam of the front band. It’s very easy to hide this in the textured moss stitch on the wrong side. My buttons were large - over one inch in diameter. I’ll wear this sweater buttoned most of the time, so I knew that the buttonholes were going to take a lot of abuse.

Remember that buttonholes in women’s clothing are on the RIGHT side, since the right side of sweaters overlaps the left side. It’s easy to lay out the buttonholes. I put my garment flat on a table. I placed one button in the middle of the empire waistband, then 3 more equally spaced above that, and 4 more equally spaced below the waistband, ending at the top of the moss stitch hem band. For my sweater, each buttonhole was 12 stitches apart. I placed a little safety pin at each buttonhole location after finishing Row 7 of the front band. In this way, I knew where to make the buttonhole stitches on the very next row.

End of My Front Band Directions

Another thing I’ll do differently next time:

I won’t be slipping the first stitch of every row. I find that when it comes time to pick up stitches for the front band, the pattern’s recommended method of picking up the front loop and then the back of the loop (occasionally), doesn’t result in the best possible appearance. It looks okay, and it’s easy, but I think it would look much better to have individual stitches there - a single row of stockinette stitch as I did for the bottom edge of the front band. Then I will just skip a stitch now and then when picking up for the front band. On my sweater, I picked up a total of 340 stitches (170 sts on each side up to the center of the hood). I worked the front band with two 60-inch cables - one cable for each half. In this way, I was able to try on the garment from time to time, as well as lay out my buttons without the garment being all bunched up. I used my Addi Turbo-click interchangeable needles. You can buy one package of extra cables that contains one 47-inch and two 60-inch interchangeable cables. I bought my extra long Addi cables from Bob and Nancy at www.addineedleshop.com.

Lastly, I would like to thank Tina Good for allowing me to knit these darling sweaters. They were fun and relatively easy to knit. I suggested that she make a Youtube video for the empire waistband stitch, since that’s the only slightly tricky part. She acknowledged that a video would be a good idea. Tina is welcome to incorporate any of my suggestions or variations into her pattern, if she wishes to do so. Unlike some designers, she appreciates creativity, and looks forward to seeing the little personal touches that everyone adds to her designs. She is SUPER when it comes to answering your questions, and I highly recommend that you try knitting one of her Neverland Hoodies yourself! They’re very fun to make, and absolutely adorable. I easily completed mine in a month, and I’m not a particularly fast knitter.

The only thing that I might add are a couple of patch pockets on the front (with a small moss stitch border along the top). A coat without pockets just doesn’t “feel” right to me. Denny likes it the way it is, so time will tell if it gets any pockets or not.

Now off to the woods I go … hopefully not to be eaten by any mountain lions or wolves. We are currently experiencing triple digit temps here in the SF Bay Area. When the weather cools off, I’ll model the coat for some additional photos. It fits me perfectly.