Swatched… and what should have been 4” of seed stitch on US 8 turned out to be 4.5”. So I’m using US 7 and will recheck gauge after I’ve knit several inches of actual sweater.

I can already tell this will be home-only knitting - too much concentration required to keep track of seed stitch panels and 6 cable charts (3 cables, left and right for each).

9/10/11 - 3 inches in, and it does indeed seem to be coming out too big. The bottom, which should be 46” around, is coming out to about 51” around. So I think I will start over, following the directions for bust size 38 instead of 42.

10/5/11 - 51 rows in, just started my 3rd hank of yarn. Sizing seems to be coming out OK following the size 38 instructions.

12/24/12 - Finally picked this up again, on row 57 from cast-on, I just now realized I messed up about 3 inches ago. Add that to a mis-crossed cable near the beginning that I was going to let go… and I’ve decided to completely start over. :/

After restarting 12/24/12, I’m at row 104 of the body as of 12/30/12. I might actually be able to wear this before the end of this winter! Size-wise, seems to be coming out OK.

1/4/13 - After knitting more than half of the left sleeve, it’s too tight (the sleeve). Knitting the sleeves on a size 8 needle instead. Also adjusting sleeve length - taking out the last pattern repeat and adding 6 extra rows at cuff.

1/10/13 - Finished 2nd sleeve.

1/11/13 - Joined body and sleeves.

1/17/13 - about halfway through the hood. Tried it on, and even though I tweaked the sleeves to take out 24 rows, they are still WAAAAAAY too long. Seriously, my arms may be a little short but not freakishly short - sleeves on store-bought clothes are not 2” past my fingertips, why do knitting patterns always have such ridiculously long sleeves?

1/19/13 - finished hood & shortened sleeves to just above flare. Just needs a zipper!

To shorten the sleeves, I marked the same stitch on each sleeve in the middle of a cable around where the bell decreases end, snipped a stitch several rows down into the bell and picked out the stitches (news flash: stitches don’t just unravel going from the bottom up, or at least they didn’t for me). Once I had it ripped back to the row I marked, and got all the stitches on the needle, I did an I-cord bindoff - so my sleeves do not have the bell shape at the end.

1/23/13 - so it’s finally dry (after 3 days!). And it got a little longer after being soaked and dried - including the sleeves. So to recap: I took out 24 rows of each sleeve before even starting, ripped out the entire bell cuff (which was maybe 3-4”) and I can now roll back the cuff about 2” and it’s just the right length. I may still mess with reknitting a cuff and grafting it on higher up. We’ll see. It’s not the most flattering sweater on me (think linebacker shoulders) but I’m going to wear it anyway. Neener neener. :) Zippers in three different shades of brown ordered online from ZipperStop.

1/26/13 - after wearing this at work the past two days, I’ve decided I’m not putting in a zipper. I like the way it flares out open at the bottom. Will be on the lookout for some frog closures or big wooden buttons to put a few at the top only. I’ve reknit two shorter cuffs that I was planning on grafting up higher on the sleeves, made a couple attempts at grafting without first cutting the yarn, and decided to leave the sleeves the length they are. I’d rather not take the chance of screwing up the sleeves just to shorten them another 2”.

8/25/13 - finally sewed on three clasps. Ready for another season of wearing this. Come on, fall!