Denim Autumn League Pullover

Notes

Ordered Yarn on Jan 12 in colorway Worn.

01-27-2024
Yarn arrived this afternoon. Love the color! Plan to swatch this evening.

Swatched and steam blocked.
On 7s I’m getting 19/28.
On 8s I’m getting 18/26.
On 9s I’m getting 17/24.

Hmmm…. not sure why I always have issues with the row gauge, but I like the fabric on the 7s the most. I think I’m going to go with the 7s and just add more rows if needed. The yoke looks a bit long to me in the sample photos so that might work out well anyway.

01-28-2024
I got it cast on and worked up to join in the round last night.

The yarn color is perfect! It is 100 percent cotton, so a bit rough on the hands, but the fabric is super soft. It is also a bit splity which is making the M1Rs annoying.

01-31-2024
Finished the yoke following the size small pattern, but I knew that I was going to have to adjust for my row gauge being off. What I really should have done is added a knit row after every six rows of the pattern but I didn’t want to interrupt the V design. And then I kinda got swept up in just trying to keep track of where I was in the pattern since the raglan shaping wasn’t a consistent repeat. So, I ended up just following the pattern until I got to the underarm join and decided I needed to make up for the row situation before joining in the round.

At this point I checked my stitch gauge and saw that it is a bit smaller too, although I do know they will settle bigger once washed… but I figured I could increase the yoke to the size medium and it shouldn’t be too big.
So after the small yoke I did…
Inc Row Body + Sleeve
Knit
Inc Row Body only
Knit
Inc Row Body + Sleeve
Knit
Inc Row Body only
Knit
This gave me a little over an inch in length and brought my stitch counts up to the size medium. Which in hindsight I probably should have made to begin with.

In general this is knitting up slower than I expected, but I can’t endlessly knit 100% cotton yarn… it’s definitely hard on the hands.

02-16-2024
Slowly plugging away at this one. I only get a few rows done each evening while watching tv. I just don’t enjoy working with the yarn… but I really love the color and want the finished sweater.

02-25-2024
Finished the body and am now working on the sleeves.

For the body… I kinda feel like I should have split the sides about 1 inch sooner. I will wear it as is for awhile and see. Also, I didn’t K2T at the purl stitches, instead I twisted them and gave one to the front and one to the back so that I had an extra stitch to work with on each side. This let me start and end the ribbing with K2 so when the edge curls it looks cleaner. I also knit 4 extra rows on the back band.

As for the first sleeve, I picked up 2 extra sts on either side of the underarm. I did a ssk and k2t at this point on the first round to remove them. This made for a super clean, no gaps, sleeve pickup.

I knit 15 rounds before the first decrease. I followed the decrease directions for the size med. After the last decrease, before the cuff ribbing, I knit 20 rounds.

03-01-2024
Went to start the second sleeve a couple of days ago, but my last skein had an issue with one of the plys. I contacted Lion Brand and they are sending a new skein… in the mean time I’m using up all the bits I have left from the first few skeins. There is some color variation between the skeins in the same dye lot so I am a bit nervous the new one won’t match.

03-06-2024
Got my replacement skein on Monday. It is from the same dye lot. I hope to get this one finished sometime this week.

03-10-2024
All done! Pretty happy with the FO. I think it will be a well used piece in my wardrobe. It is relaxed but not crazy oversized, and the cotton yarn will work in most seasons for me. The fit turned out great, and the yarn color is also great for a wardrobe staple. The only thing I might have wanted to change is to have divided at the waist an inch sooner. I like the length but I feel like where it hits on my hips, that divide should have been a bit higher.

The pattern was fairly easy to follow. My only real complaint is that each yoke has a different set of instructions… making the pattern 17 pages long. So it was slightly annoying to have to scroll through all the different yoke sizes, if I wanted to check something back at the top of the pattern. Super minor thing though.

Mixed feelings on the yarn… I did have an un-useable skein, but Lion Brand was quick to replace it for me… so that was good. The yarn is super splity and wants to unply. It’s also weighty… as in the final sweater is kinda heavy. And as all 100 percent cotton yarns, it was a bit hard on the hands. I have found in general I prefer to work with cotton blends. There was also color variation skein to skein even in the same dye lot. So I really should have been alternating skeins, but since I found the yarn a bit tiresome to work with already, I didn’t. So I can tell where I changed balls… I’m not sure if others will see it. I also think it may fade out with a few washes and be even less noticeable. It really does look like jeans though, which I love.