Moving along 6 stitches at a time

I would be just a little farther along on this sweater had I not had to unravel back to the underarms.  I had cast on the number of stitches needed for the right width at the underarm for my body  - not what the pattern says - and had to go back and take out a few of those stitches. My first try fit fine but the pattern looked a little saggy. No way should this pattern look saggy.  It should just look crisp and lively. 

But, having to rip back and redo isn't a bad thing.  Not at all.  Its been really lovely.  This is a marvelous little lacey cable stitch.  I could knit this over and over and not get tired.  

One pattern row, then 3 rows where you count to five and do something different on the 6th.     Rhythm, rhythm, rhythm.  Over and over, back and front.  

Another interesting part is the knitting styles I am using.  I don't think I have done it on this scale before.  The front button bands are knit in reverse stockinette.  I really have a strong dislike for the stitch, but only because it shows off bad or uneven knitting so easily.  I've yet to see a sample in a magazine where reverse stockinette on a large scale, looked at all pleasing.  My knitting  tension isn't even when I knit traditional continental, so to combat this I am doing it my way.  The reverse stockinette portion is knit combined, scooping my yarn front and back. 

When I get to the lace, lazy knitter that I am, I do what is easiest in pattern work, and do what the rest of the world does.  I'm not nearly as excited by the prospect of all that purling the proper way.  It takes a lot more effort than scooping and is a little harder on my hands but even that has not been an issue here.  It is just 5 stitches at a time and the knit stitch in between is enough of a break that it just feels right.  

So every row, I am a little bit of the average knitter and a little bit of me. Completely mixed up

I have a couple inches more, 3 more repeats of the full pattern to be precise and then on to the sleeves.  There will be more length to knit on the body of the sweater, but I  want to get fuss of sleeves done first.  The small diameter of sleeves is always a challenge when you have to work around the full body of a sweater.  

I have had so many nice comments on the way it looks so far.  It isn't my doing it at all.  It is a great pattern and what just might be my very best matching of yarn to pattern.  I'm using Scheepjes Donna. It is an unassuming blend of wool and microfiber, but it is the construction that makes it something special.  If you are wandering round a yarn store, look for yarns that bounce back when you squeeze them, that feel full of movement and life, yarns like Mirasol Hacho and Lana Grossa Merino 2000 and Zara.  The stitch definition of patterns with a yarn made like this is quite simply, incomparable. 

I was kind of hoping for incomparable.  I was hoping for something that would look just a little dressier than the comfy cozy casual sweaters I have knit lately and if it keeps working up like this it will.