Well, I'll be darned, the thing fits!
- Pattern: Owls, the free version that is no longer available
- Yarn: Istex Plotulopi (unspun Icelandic) in 1421 Forest Green Heather
- Needles: 4.5 mm for ribbing, 5.5 mm for body of sweater
- Gauge: 14 sts/4" after blocking and wearing
- Modifications (so many!):
- Used a finer yarn than called for in pattern
- Cast on 128 sts as per size XL in pattern to compensate for tighter gauge
- Did not do waist shaping
- Put 8 stitches onto holder for underarms (didn’t bind them off) instead of 4
- Increased 4 stitches around yoke on first round to make 190 sts (went from XL at cast-on to M for yoke; am hoping being pear-shaped means this will work ok!)
- Knit 7 rounds plain on yoke before starting chart so owls wouldn’t be in armpit, and to add length since my yarn is finer than what the pattern calls for
- Knit owls as per chart, followed by 8 rounds plain stockinette so that yoke reached the top of my shoulders before starting decreases
- Added an extra plain knit row after rows 1 & 2 of the yoke decreases, both time
- Added an extra short row at back of neck
- Neck ribbing not quite as long as pattern states - I wanted a more open neck so my T-shirt would still show
- To decrease 9 stitches evenly across the round, I alternated K7 K2tog and K8 K2tog around
- Used the miraculous elastic bind-off for the neck - worked great!
- Used 12mm green buttons from Fabricland (from the plain bargain buttons rack, 7 packages of six, 90 cents each package)
I can hardly believe it worked out. I love it.
