(I really wish I could show you artsy photo like Kat does, but I seem to be incapable of those. Mine seem to be always all fact-sy and informational.)

The sleeves on my Chartreuse are done to the top of the increases. That’s what all those stitch markers are marking, above — increases. Because I cannot be counted on to count correctly (see what I did there?) The color in the right-hand photo is more accurate, in case you are wondering. What I am wondering is whether I should frog these back to the beginning of the increases and do them every 3 rows instead of every 4 as the pattern calls for. I tried the sleeves on over a long-sleeved tee shirt, which is how I will probably wear the sweater, and the sleeves seemed a little snug. Are they so snug I will resent them every time I wear the sweater? Possibly, which seems to indicate frogging is in order. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly the sleeves knitted up — the second time! to be explained below — so it shouldn’t be too painful.

I had the sleeves done about halfway through the increases when it occurred to me to check my gauge, Which turned out to be w-a-y off. I frogged back to the ribbing, then decided to do another gauge swatch using Addi Turbos instead of the Knit Picks Options I was knitting the sleeves on. After I soaked the swatch and let it dry, the gauge was spot on.

A micrometer: something every knitter needs access to occasionally

The body of the sweater is knit in one piece from the bottom, which will be a lot easier if I have a circ with a really long cable. Two choices: a Knit Picks Option or the Knitter’s Pride, pictured above. But needles can vary slightly, and given the tens of thousands of stitches I will be making in the sweater, I really, really don’t want to be felled by gauge issues.

Smokey’s micrometer to the rescue! Both the Addi Turbo #6 and the Knitter’s Pride #6 are .158 inches in diameter. The Knit Picks #6 is .157 inches. Would 1/1000 of an inch make a difference? I don’t know, and I really, really do not want to find out The Hard Way. If 300+ stitches on the 36″ Knitter’s Pride circ become to cumbersome, I can order a longer circ, no problem.

I cast on the 300+ stitches on Monday night and started to place the markers to separate the cable sections. For some reason the pattern has you place the markers after casting on the stitches; if I had been clever and READ THE NEXT LINE OF THE PATTERN I could have saved myself a lot of extra counting. But I wasn’t, so I didn’t. In the midst of placing the markers I remembered that I always have to alter patterns to allow enough room for my my Hips Of Substance™. Figuring out exactly where to put those extra stitches was too much for my 9pm brain, so that will have to wait.

One thing I salute in this pattern: it starts out with the sleeves. Why don’t more designers do this? A sleeve is a built-in gauge swatch. (Why did it not occur to me to soak and measure my initial sleeve? User idiocy, I guess.) And knitting the sleeves first means never being stranded on Sleeve Island. I suspect the designer did this because it is fundamental to the construction of the sweater.

Anyway, I am still keen on this sweater. (I am also jealous of those of you with 32″ bust lines who can turn out a sweater over a weekend. This one will take me months, assuming I can stay monogamous to it; years if not.)

I finished When Breath Becomes Air. Excellent book, excellent writing.

Right now I am intent on finishing the book for my book group, Dear Mrs. Bird, a frothy read about a WWII young woman to takes a job as assistant to a steel-corseted advice columnist. It is a pleasant read and a decent account of what 1940 London was like. I am fond of the women in my book group; I just wish they would choose books with a bit more substance. Oh, well.

Go check out all the Unraveled Wednesday post over at Kat’s!