First off here is the definition of “ Elibelinde “: Elibelinde (Turkish for “hands on hips”) is a motif of a hands-on-hips female figure. It is widely used on kilims (flat tapestry-woven carpets) and occurs in many variations. The arms of the figure are represented by two inward-facing hooks, while the body of the woman is represented by a triangle or diamond. The head is typically represented by a diamond. The Elibelinde is a symbol of fertility and motherhood. It is one of many kilim motifs commonly woven into Turkish flatweave rugs.”

Looks like a lovely pattern and I have the right yarn in my stash. I decided on size 2 after some confusion over the sizing.

The model with bigger bust (39”) is wearing the smaller size 2 in orange and the model with smaller bust (35”) is wearing the larger size 3 in brown. I am still wondering if it is a typo and texted the designer about it.
Here is her response:“ I completely understand your confusion regarding the sizing, and I was not involved in the styling decisions for the shoot so I’m afraid I can’t weigh in much on that end of things. What I can tell you though, is this.. I knitted the red version for myself, and I’m about a 35” bust as well. It’s sized to have around 4” positive ease around the bust, and to fit nicely around the shoulders. “

Anyhow, I feel good about having started; I am also planning to make the sweater a bit longer.

8.29. Finished the ribbing and the first Chart A repeat ( 12 rows). By using a method of working the cables without a cable needle I am going full steam ahead. Have to do some work on my other projects….

8.30. Finished another Chart A repeat and finished the tree of Life blanket today

9.6. Finished my eight chart repeats and divided front and back. This is how I worked the cables: Elibelinde cables without a cable needle
Separating front and back was easy with my interchangeable needles. I simply kept the back sts on the cable I was using and knitted the front stitches onto a new cable I attached the needles to.

9.10. Finished the front.
Errata: I did run into a problem with the shoulder shaping. Working size 2 the last w&t is right on the ssk. I did the last two w&t four instead of five sts before the previous one. Not a biggie; I am just writing it down in case someone else is confused about it.
Also for the left front work k3tog and k2tog ( the 2tog when you are four- not three- sts from the end of the row-) instead of sssk and ssk.
Holding it against another sweater which fits well across the shoulders gives me the confidence that this will be a good fit.
OK, not everything is lining up as it should.
Errata on lining up Chart B with Chart A
I am having fun writing back and forth with the designer, Ellinor; she is ever so nice…She has been following my knitting process and writes: “I noticed also that your central cable detail isn’t centered as it should be.. Did you find any errors in the stitch count at this part?”
Yes, I did notice right when I divided the front and back that the pattern is not symmetrical over the front or the back , meaning that the number of repeats left and right to the center stitch are not equal. I could kick myself for not acting on that and correcting it ( as it did bother me). Instead I kept knitting which resulted in chart B not lining up with chart A as it should.
My advise: when you divide the front and back be very careful that you have symmetry and an even number of repeats in the front!
For size 2 this should read:
Row 5: knit in pattern to 2 sts before the marker, BO 2
Row 6: BO 6, work 108 sts in pattern (this is 2 sts +13 repeats +2 sts), BO 8, then work to the end of the row. You have 108 sts total ; this is now your front which you work back and forth on (this is 6 sts +12 repeats +6 sts).
Part of me wants to rip back to the front/ back divide and re-do everything from there, part of me doesn’t and wants to leave things “as is”. we will see who wins.

9.12. : Of course I ripped everything out to the front/ back dividing row and am re-knitting now. The cable detail of chart B is one of the things which attracted me to this pattern and I think I would not very much like to wear the sweater if I did not get this right. It is just a few days of work, but will be a long enjoyment of wearing.

This is how I worked the back neck opening decreases:
Left neck: WS: P to 5 sts from neckline edge, P3tog through back loop, p2
Subsequent RS rows sssk and ssk
Right neck: WS: P2, P3tog, p to end
The rest of the directions for the right neck as written.

9.20. : Finished front and back (again). Somehow I ran out of steam a bit, but am hoping that once I work on the sleeves I will gain momentum.
I got a little flustered when I did the 3-needlw-bind-off as I am used to picking up the wraps and knitting them together with the stitch as I go along, but it did not turn out well, so I re-did one shoulder leaving the wraps. If I did this again I would either add one row each for front and back in which I pick up the wraps and then do the 3-needle-bind-off or do a different short row technique such as German short rows or Twin stitches.

Starting the sleeves today 2-at-a-time.

10.1. started on the sleeve caps
I knew that I am correct with the stitch count gauge, but not with the gauge per row so I had to calculate how many total rows I needed for the sleeve cap and changed the frequency of decreases accordingly. I was a little nervous that it would fit perfectly and was pleased to see it does when I did a in-between fitting. Yeah! If not too much else happens this week, I should have this sweater on my blocking mats by the weekend. It is an unusually pointy sleeve cap.

10.6. Set in one sleeve and decided that I didn’t like it. Took the sleeve cap back to 22 sts and then bound off across all stitches. Ideally I would have ripped it back and re-worked a few rows so I would have a 18 sts straight edge, but this is fine. I like it better.
All the knitting is done, just need to block it