June 14, 2014: BOO. It’s the yarn, not the pattern. The first time I wore the sweater, the armholes seemed too loose. I assumed I hadn’t shaped them to fit me well. The second wearing showed the yarn’s nature, as I suspected might happen but hoped wouldn’t (silly me; I knew better): the armholes stretched more, and all evidence of all other shaping stretched into invisibility. I will frog this sweater (will try the pattern again with a more suitable yarn) and use this viscose/cotton yarn for an entrelac sweater. I used a similar yarn (bamboo/cotton) for an entrelac pullover, and it holds its shape nicely—due, I expect, to the balancing forces going on in the fabric.

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This is my first contiguous-sleeve sweater. I omitted the garter buttonband (neckband because I’m making a pullover instead of a cardi) while working the neckline so that I can see more clearly how the shoulders are constructed. Also, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to join/graft the neckband ends invisibly in the front of the sweater if I followed the buttonband as written. So, I’ll add the garter neckband later, similar to how the hemline ribbing is described in the pattern: CO 4 sts (backward loop), slwyf, k2, sl1kwise, PU st on edge of neckline, k sl st and PU st tog. (k back).

Gauge after blocking and hanging:
22 sts/4” in St st
20.5 sts/4” in garter st

To start, I cast on 42 sts (1 st for each edge instead of 4 sts for each buttonband) using long-tail CO. Then I moved into “Set up and place markers” before shoulder increases.

April 2014: countless adjustments for fit. Most but probably not all are noted on my hardcopy (see chicken scratches).

Neckband: With 3 mm needle I picked up sts to knit together with the last st on the right needle: every st along the back (behind the shoulder “seam” line), skipped 1 st, then picked up 4 of every 5 sts x 5, then 3/4 sts x 8 on the slanted edges, then 2/3 x 4, then 2/3 across the front of the scoop (where I had CO to join to work in the round), then the opposite going up on the other side. Then, to cover the cleavage that I hadn’t intended to expose, as I worked the “ribbing” by joining it to the picked up sts, I increased as I approached the bottom of the scoop and decreased as I moved back up toward the shoulder.

I CO 8 sts for the hemline. I didn’t want the hem to flare out the way the cuffs sort of do (where I had worked every st), so I worked every st for the garter panel on the back and for the rest, I worked 9-10 sts and then 2 sts tog when joining to the hem “ribbing” so, 9 (or 10), then 2tog, then 9 (or 10), then 2tog, etc..