Blog post here:
http://makingitwell.blogspot.co.nz/2012/08/completed-francis-revisited-sweater.html

12/06/12- Cast on when I should be finishing Miette..oops!
I have begun learning magic loop because the 80 cast on stitches won’t fit all the way across my 80cm circular needles. Fancy! (I used it for the first 10 rows or so.)

My gauge is a lot smaller than the pattern’s. The pattern’s is 3.25 sts per inch. Mine is 3.85 sts per inch. So I’m starting knitting the small but mine will turn out below the smallest size (in the bust at least).
I decided I wanted 2” negative ease. The pattern has 1” negative ease at the bust, but I suspect it is supposed to have zero or positive ease at the waist (doesn’t look that form fitting). I’m planning to add more decreases at the waist and increases at the hips so it’s 2” negative ease all over.
I have no idea what I’m doing. lol! :)

Okay! So now I’m finished, time to unload my notes!

Shaping:
-I decided to just go for 1” negative ease all over.

-When increasing on the raglans, by the time I got to the right measurement for my bust, it was still way too short and tight in the armpits. So I added some more rounds before splitting off the sleeves. I did one extra round of normal increasing, 2 rounds without increasing, and then a round where I only increased on the arms.
Come to think of it, it was probably tight in the armholes because my gauge was smaller, yet I still cast on the same amount for the neckline. This would mean my neckline would sit higher so would need more length to get to the armholes. That makes sense :)

-Because I like things form-fitting, I added extra decreases for the waist. Instead of 2 decrease rounds, I did 5. I started higher and spaced them closer. (Instead of 5 plain rows in between, it was 3.) I started them just after the apex of the bust.
Trying it on as it went was really great. I originally was only going to do 4 decrease rounds but the fitting mania won when I tried it on so I had to add another. So I guess it was 2” negative ease after all.

-Since I decreased more for the waist, I also increased more for the hips. I did 4 set of 4 increases per round for the hips. It’s about 2” negative ease right now I think. I think next time I would add one more increase?

UPDATE: lol, I noticed my gauge had actually grown larger while knitting it so it’s more like ZERO ease now. Looks good though, good to know!

Sleeves:
I made them full length. I decreased at the top (3 sets of two decreases, 4 rows apart) to get them to zero ease.
I then added some more decreases once I got past the elbow. I just sort of played it by ear, trying it on a few times as I went!
I ended up with 3 more sets of 2 decreases, spread 10 rows apart.
I did the sleeves with the magic loop method.
My sleeves were about 18 inches long (measured from arm-pit) before I added the seed stitch cuffs.

-Bind offs:
I bound off with 8mm needles on the sleeve cuffs and hem to keep it loose (the normal needles I was using were 6mm).
I read that people said to use a stretchy bind off on the cowl to make it sit nicely so I gave Jeny’s surprisingly stretchy bind-off a try. I don’t think it’s as attractive as a regular bind off, but hopefully it made my cowl sit better!

-Cowl:
it says to attach the cowl with mattress stitch, but that’s used for seaming stocking stitch? Iunno. I just winged it, sewing through the bars of the stitches on the body (like mattress stitch), and then through the lower edge of the cast off chain. Sort of whip stitch-y I guess. I wonder what I was supposed to do, but it worked! lol.

Blocking:
I read that alpaca stretches out easily if you wet block it by soaking, so I laid it out on towels (no pins), and sprayed it heartily with water. I left it to dry and then flipped it and did the other side.

Random notes:
-I think there is an error in the pattern.
I believe that the stitch count for XS is wrong- sts removed for sleeves should be 32 not 34?
-I made a little diagram for picking up for the cowl, since I thought the instructions were kinda vague. Hopefully this helps someone! :)
-The body took very slightly over 2 balls. The sleeves nearly used 1 ball between them. The cowl took about 1/2 a ball or less.
-One more thing, I think my gauge loosened up as I knit, so it’s probably slightly looser than my calculations! lol :)