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Originally uploaded by kerner.

Here it is – the much-anticipated "ice storm sweater"! I actually started knitting this the week between Christmas and New Years, but I made most of my progress during the two weeks of the ice storm. I'm using recycled yarn from the Cutaway sweater I knit last year. It was my first sweater and I didn't do a very good job on it, so I decided to rip it out and try again. This time, I'm doing a basic top-down raglan sweater using this pattern.

A few notes on the pattern so far:

1.  When taking measurements, measure a sweater or shirt that fits you well, not your actual body measurements.  For some reason, I followed this advice on everything but my neck measurement (maybe because it's hard to measure the neck of a sweater?)  But I ended up with a very close-fitting neckline on an otherwise fairly relaxed sweater.  I tried to rip back the neck a bit, but I couldn't quite figure it out.  

2.  The ratios don't add up.  It wants you to have 25% of your stitches for each sleeve, plus 33% for the front and 33% for the back, plus 8 stitches for the raglan shaping.  Ummm… that's way more than 100%.  Maybe I'm just missing something, but I just had to rejigger the figures until it added up, but roughly keep the same proportions.

3.  I haven't started the sleeves yet, but I'm afraid they're going to be quite a bit more voluminous than I normally like them.  This pattern dates back to the 80's or maybe even earlier, so I think it's just a matter of changing styles.  

I've actually gotten a bit farther on this sweater than the picture shows.  I finished the body and put on a reverse stockinette edging around the bottom and neck.  I'm really happy with the fit except for the puffy sleeve possiblity.