Saw this sweater on display at my local knit store & thought it was so darn cute! I bought the pattern & am attempting to make it with stash yarn that I had bought years ago for a different sweater project that never took off. Keeping a journal of this journey may help me get through this pattern if I attempt it again at a later date. So here I go!…

*Lace Rib Chart Notes:*
It wasn’t clear to me if I was supposed to work this chart’s 1st row beginning from left to right. So attempted it as such:

Row 1 (WS): Starting on stitch #6. Working row from left to right & counting down (6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 12, 11, 10, 9, etc…) Finishing the row with stitch #5.

Row 2 (RS): Starting on stich #5. Working row from right to left. Counting up (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, etc..). Placing marker after all stitch #10’s that are repeated throughout the row. Finishing the row with stitch #6.

Cont. charted pattern in this manner.

After breaking the yarn from working final increase row in the “Shaping Armholes” section, I got a little confused. Here’s what to do if it seems confusing: pick up the next step in the pattern (Front Left Side) with the ORIGINAL cast on (74 sts) edge! Not from the series of cast on stitches that were worked in the final steps of the Shape Armholes section. This written instruction was rather misleading for someone like myself, who’s not very well versed and experienced with knitting sweaters. Ha!

Dec. 23rd: Still working on the sweater. Discovered about 7 rows after joining the front and back that I forgot to incorporate the lace rib pattern in the section under the armpits. Ooops! Decided to just improvise & start the lace pattern at that point. Figured it’s not that far down that it hopefully won’t look like a huge noticeable mistake. Although, for the waist shaping step, two rows of my improv. lace ribs merged together. So, those rows turned out to be rather pointless. Grrrr….

I also learned that somewhere along the way, my stitch count was off! Waaaay off! I had 236 stitches, whereas the pattern calls for 216! Good Lord! I’m a distracted mamma. How did I allow that to happen??? Oh well. So again, not bothering with frogging and tinking. Back to improv. I go! In my effort to balance out the sections, I added & removed stitches in sections that were missing them. Hopefully this won’t be terribly noticeable. Looking at the sweater so far, it appears to be symmetrical/balanced.

Waist Band Notes:
I thought this sweater would look cute with a different design for the empire waist band instead of the Garter Lace. This was very simple to do, it turned out rather cute and was a nice break from the pattern. If anyone is interested in making this change, here’s how I did it:

The modified waist band pattern is worked over a repeated cluster of 6 sts over 9 rows on a purl background. Start row by purling until 2 sts before sts 11 & 12 of the Lace Rib Pattern (these are the k2tog, yo steps & yo, k2tog steps of their corresponding rows). Then k2, p2, k2, purl until the next pattern repeat. Then, repeat these steps to the end of the row. Do this for 4 rows. Row 5: purl to the 6 sts & then slip all 6 sts to a dpn. Wrap working yarn 2 times, counterclockwise, around these 6 sts then k2,p2,k2 from the dpn. Purl until you reach the next pattern repeat and then repeat these steps. Continue in this manner for the rest of the round. For the next 4 rows repeat the steps as for the first 4 rows.

Sleeves Notes:
According to the pattern, I’m supposed to pick up 84 stitches around the armhole shaping. I decided to work both sleeves at the same time because I was worried that they may not balance out between the lace pattern design & the discrepancy with stitches. Plus, since I have momnesia, I’d more than likely forget how many stitches I picked up to ensure I end up with matching sized sleeves. I worked short rows for the sleeves. The pattern’s notes were hard for me to follow and understand because this was my first sweater with sleeves. Not blaming the author, though. I’m just ignorant with sleeves.-lol I did a little research online to make sense of the armhole shaping using short rows. I came across this Youtube video & felt it was perfect for helping me figure it all out!!! I’m so happy that I found it! Yes!!! It’s found on Paula Ward’s channel. Top Down Sleeve Cap: Part 1 of 2. I’m attempting to post the link to the channel. Hope it works! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPKzkuD4oLU&list=UUOfr...

Instead of picking up every single stitch around the armhole I aimed for mostly every other stitch. Managed to get 96 stitches this time around. Working the short rows as written in the pattern. Except, for the starting wrap & turn sequence I began that 15 stitches after the halfway mark on the shoulder seam.

Finally, Wrapping It Up!
Jan. 29, 2013: I’m FINALLY finished!!!!!!!!
Sleeves were so time consuming. I didn’t like how the eyelet laces merged with the underarm decreases. But, chalk it up to lesson learned for next time. Maybe I’ll skip making the center stitch marker an eyelet lace, if I ever go back to this pattern again.