59, 60

Mad Grover waves to the boy who commented on the blog. Kerric is my middle son, and no this is not the son who called me a stool stealer, but he probably will now.....

I've been working diligently on my sweater. It took an entire day to do about 12 rows. Sorting stitches for the arms had to be done 3 times due to miscounts and the serious problems of one side having 1 more stitch than the other. Then I had to figure out how many stitches I should cast on for the underarm. Too many, it looks sloppy, too few and I'll be feeling just like I did when my auntie starched our summer t shirts. Then there was the problem of how exactly to keep adding length without adding width to the sweater.

Ravelry was a great help there. Others had tried different things, and the most sensible sounding comment was to continue to work around the whole sweater increasing at the centre front and centre back, to keep the chevron, and taking off that increase along the side. This is where any waist and hip shaping will be done too. (Many steps ahead) As soon as I get to the length I want at the centre front point, I can go back to working the pattern to get the straight bottom edge that makes this chevron top so interesting.

(photo of decreases along the underarm edge)I'm going to work another row or two for added stability on those extra cast on stitches at the under arm, and then I will try it on and see exactly where I stand. It's so exciting.

This is when I will really see if the sleeves are too wide to drape properly. This is where I see if I have allowed enough depth in the arm hole. This is where I will see if my percentages to up size the top worked. This is where I will see if worrying about gauge when you do all these other adjustments really matters.

I read somewhere that a pattern should not be followed blindly unless you have exactly the same shape and size body as the original sweater was designed for. The same source said all patterns are really just starting points, inspirations and it is up to us to interpret the design so it fits us, and looks just as great as the original.

It feels like it is working right, I see very clearly what my goals at each point should be. I have every confidence that I am very close to where I need to be. Now it just is going to take a little more knitting to get there.