’Ive substituted BT shelter with Ullcentrum 3-ply Wool Yarn. It is made from untreated Swedish wool which is washed with neutral soap only. The shop website states “After processing, put it in hot water (as hot as possible) and let it in until water is cold. The yarn will become more gentle and fluffy”

I did that to my swatches and the transformation was truly magical. When knitted up the fabric is quite stiff and pretty rustic due to the lanolin content. After a good hot soak and (very light) blocking, the fabric evens out, gets a lovely drape and the stitch pattern comes out. I liked that a lot!

December 13:
Made 2 swatches, starting with my 5.5 mm (US 9) & 5.0 mm (US 8) . not getting gauge so far.

December 14:
I’ve got stitch gauge with my 4.5mm circulars but I am a little bit concerned about my row gauge which is ever so slightly off. I might have to rely on a good block to get the sweater as long as I want it to be. Let’s wait and see.

Casted on in the evening.

December 23:
Within the last pattern repeat before I’ll put the body away to cast on the first sleeve. So far it is smooth sailing, but the really tricky stuff is going to come later, when sleeves and body will be joined and the yoke (and later on the saddle shoulder) will be worked in one part. There will be a lot of AT THE SAME TIME and I am wondering how to stay ahead of things. I’ll probably set up a spread sheet for that)

December 23, in the evening:
Just casted on for the right sleeve. I am still not sure about the elbow patches … hmm …

December 28:
Finished the right sleeve. I do like the elbow patch. :-)

December 29:
Casted on for the left sleeve.

January 1, 2014:
Finished second sleeve.
A happy new year to all of you! :-)

January 3, 2014:
Joined body and sleeves.

Before I started the yoke/neck/sleeve/shoulder decreases, I’ve taken my time to set up a spreadsheet to keep track of alle the decreases with their different rhythms.

First I filled one column covering all the neck decreases (they are described in the section yoke but run through yoke, sleeve and shoulder sections), in a second column I ran through all the other decreases - section by section. The sections in column 2 are divided by lines in different colors.

The third column is for me to check the knitted rows.
Now it is much easier to keep track of where I am in the pattern and what needs to be done next.

January 5, 2014:
Started shoulder decreases. Making the p2tog-tbl as ssp(tbl) as described on TECHknitting.

January 10, 2014: Picked up the stitches for the button band and shawl collar. Got exactly the right numer of stitches - a miracle!
Did the picking up and the following row with size 6 (4 mm) circulars. Knitted that first row after picking up the stitches through the back loop - it made a nice and tidy connection. Switched back to size 7 (4.5 mm) for the following rows.

January 17, 2014: Closed underarm seams and finished the pockets at my parent’s place. Blocking will have to wait until I am back home.

January 19, 2014: Cardi got its hot soak in the bathtub. Blocked.

January 20, 2014: Finished blocking and attached the buttons. Photos will have to wait until the coming weekend.