****NOTE*******
Can not stress enough that if you follow the directions as they are written, you’re going to get an awesome cardigan.

11/27/13 Did last 3 rows of Chart E this morning and then started on the ribbing. 1 setup row, then 3times more of the ribbing section = 8 rows, then the bind off - so that’s 10 times of the 444 row stitches (little more really on the bind off but that makes my head hurt to figure out.) 13 rows equals the 5772 stitches. Total stitch count = 69206. Whew!

The two ends are woven in. Currently soaking in hot water and will be blocking it this evening. Wearing it tomorrow!!

11/26/13 Started Chart E and did 8 rows before dinner and another 5 rows after gaming. 5772 stitches. 12 more rows to finish. 96% done!

11/25/13 Finished the last 2 rows of Chart C and completed ALL of Chart D - Whew! 4008 stitches for the day. 57,662 stitches total. 81.56% done. Yay! Going to try to muscle through Chart E tomorrow in two pieces. Before gaming and after.

11/24/13 Finished the last 2 rows of the first half of Chart C. Worked another 6 rows for a total of 8. It’s late, and I’m tired, so I’ll have to finish Chart C in the morning and move on to Chart D. 2976 stitches, 53,654 stitches total. Finally at 75% done!

11/23/13 Only 6 rows done in Chart C. I did do the buttonhole, so will need to find the perfect button! 2232 stitches today and went over the mark! 50,678 stitches done so far. Yay!

11/22/13 OM. Was about row 4 of the second half of chart B when I realized I made a mistake. I had to tink back through until row 9 of the chart. I had tried to narrow the increase points like the previous. They don’t do that though. Not counting all the tinking. Just the re-do and the finishing of Chart B = 2688 stitches, 48,446 stitches to goal= 96%

I have a good hand length done on the skirt, pics of progress to this point will be taken tomorrow and hopefully posted then too.

11/21/13 Half of chart B done = 2688 stitches; 45,758 stitches and 91% of goal. In actual sweater progress, I guess I’m at 75%? I have 3 more charts which = 48 rows and then the ribbing rows.

11/20/13 Did the last Chart A of the set of 4. NOW ready to start doing the increases with the Chart B-E set. Chart A will still be used across the back, so less monotonous to knit! Total of 3000 stitches for the day. 43,070 stitches total and 86% towards goal.

-2 rows of the chart A finished before bed. Will get up and do that last chart A. Then its on to the increases with Charts B, C, D and E. Looking forward to it!

11/19/13 6 rows done before midnight = 1800 stitches. 40,070 total stitches done to date. Almost there! 80% done towards 50,000 stitches goal. Looks like the cardigan will definitely be over that!

11/18/13 Only one more of Chart A done. So 2400 stitches for the day and putting me at 38,270 stitches subtotal. 76.54% done. Goal is to get those last two charts done so some growing can happen!

11/17/13 Got myself back to the beginning of the Lower Body section. Which meant that I frogged the neckline bind off and then went forward. I put in a lifeline first! Then I found myself in the same place as before. So went and looked at pictures closer. The front panels don’t line up. The only part that does is the back panel. This makes it easier to go forward! There’s a partial pattern on either side of the front edges. Worked 1 Chart A repeat. 3141 stitches and a few more I’m sure. 35,870 subtotal stitches - 71.74% done.

11/16/13 So with the pattern as written trying to get the pattern to match I would have needed to be doing Chart D. Way too many stitches to have the pattern line up, so had to tink. Now trying to figure out where my starting point is since part of it, took out my original beginning point stitch marker. Giving me a headache! Grrrr
528 stitches.

11/15/13 I ended up redoing the 71 st bind off I think like three times. First time because I didn’t read the elastic bind off instructions first, then re-did it and found my count off, so had to re-do it again. Counting has saved me from mistakes. If you keep your count you’re golden. 974 stitches just doing the Four Step Setup Round for the Lower Body. Sigh. Hope to get more done today, but have stuff to do. 32,201 stitch subtotal.

11/14/13 Put all the provisional stitches on another US4 needle and did the three needle bind off for both sleeves. Then put them all on my Harmony needles and did the eight rows of ribbing. I’m all set up to do the lower body next. 2,117 sts done today, 31,227 stitches total and 62.45% done.

11/13/13 Asked for Brandon’s help and it turns out that 14 repeats are going to be enough! Yay! Going to read the instructions for the three needle bind off and do that in the morning. Seems safer to take stitches off of the provisional cast on and have good lighting for that stage. Since I’m ahead by 9,110 stitches, I should be okay for skipping a day. ;-)

-Going to bang out the last repeat before bed tonight. Just need to get it done!

11/12/13 Worked 2 full repeats of the charts, for a total of 14. Total stitches of the day - 4032, subtotal for project - 29,110 = 58.22% done. Upper arm says that I’m going to want another repeat so that its not tight. So just one more to go before it gets exciting.

11/11/13 Total of 12 chart repeats done. Says I need 3 more. I’m going to do another one and see if its still snug. May end up only dong 14. So stitch count for today = 2016, subtotal of 25078 and at 50.16% towards goal.

11/10/13 Got another 4 rows done and then moved into the bedroom to watch shows on Netflix and knit the other 4 rows. Counting it all for today. So another 2016 sts, 23,062 subtotal sts. 46.12% done.

-Another chart repeat done. Hope to do a few more rows before bed. 2016 sts, 21,046 sts subtotal or 42.09%

11/09/13 Worked on the rest of the chart while at Judy’s for dinner. Only 4 rows done while talking. Finished the rest of the chart. 1512 sts for the day. 19,030 sts subtotal, 38.06%

11/08/13 One chart and a couple extra rows - 2520 sts for the day, 13,333 subtotal = 35% done.

11/07/13 Knit another chart repeat while catching up on shows online. 2016 sts for this afternoon. 14,998 sts total, or 30% complete. It’s getting some weight to it. I need to pull yesterday’s and today’s progress pics off the camera still.

11/06/13 Okay, knit the last 2 rows of the previous chart, plus an entire chart, so 10 rows. 2520 sts for today, 12,982 sts done. I’m 2,982 sts ahead of goal and 25% completed. Yay! I get to move on the progress.

My knot came out at the peak of one of the leafs on the right side of the fabric. I can feel it, so not sure how I feel about this join method… Since that was 10 rows ago, I’m committed to that one.

-Trying out this to join yarns. I hate weaving in lots of ends and there would be a few with this sweater if I’m already done with 1 skein. So included a pic of the knot. When I get to the point of having the knot knitted in later, I’ll take a photo of the area. Since this is a cardigan, it wouldn’t get a lot of wear or rubbing, so willing to try it out.

11/05/13 Just 6 rows done today. Tried doing some other things today and got started late with knitting. Low on yarn and the swift is noisy, so waiting until tomorrow for the next skein of yarn. 1512 sts today, 10,462 sts and 2129 sts over target. 20.92% done.

11/04/13 Just one chart done today for a total of four or 2016 sts. 8950 sts done. I’m still ahead, but this will be really slow if I don’t do more than 1 a day. 2283 sts ahead and currently at 17.9%. (Had to ask for the % to be added to the new sheet, he’d forgotten that.)

11/03/13 Watched Reds and Rock of Ages with Dawn-Marie and knit. I did the 6 remaining rows of the 2nd chart repeat, then did another chart repeat for 3 done. 3528 sts for the day with a subtotal of 6934 sts or 14% done. Brandon discovered an error in the spreadsheet so made me a new one. I had tried putting 31 days in November. ;-) I’m currently ahead by 1934sts and would like to keep it that way.

11/02/13
Knit 1 repeat of chart and through row 2 of the 2nd repeat of the chart for the day. This put me ahead 180 rows and put me at 7% done. Pattern is nice and easy to memorize across. Hope that it is challenging enough to keep attention, but not too easy that it bores.

Note DH was a lot of help with playing with data on the spreadsheet so I can see all kinds of data. That way I’ll know exactly where I am with subtotals, if I’m ahead or behind. Some nice colors to help show things too.

-Doing Setup Row 2 before going to bed = 252 sts (886sts). Looks like I have to knit 1613 sts per day to meet the goal. I’ve done half of that in just an hour and a half. This might be possible!

11/01/13 Actually did a gauge swatch to do the Tempting sweater, then Melissa Warford kind of talked me into doing this one instead. DH wanted to do some gaming, so spent a little more time online with LOTRO than expected, so getting the crochet chains done. 192+60+(40+30) = 322 sts. The () sts were attempts with scrap yarns. They count!
322+60+60+192 = 634 = Pre-setup A and Setup Row 1.

Setup an Excel spreadsheet to track sts. Whew.