I have had this pattern in my Ravelry queue since 2008.  I started a gauge swatch and never touched it.  This year, thanks to the inspiration provided by The Knit Girllls’ Stash Dash 2016 and the guidance from Helen Stewart of Curious Handmade podcast, Jo Milmine of Shiny Bees podcast and Gigi and Jasmin of the Knitmore Girls podcast, the sweater will be made!  I thought it might be helpful to someone to see the process by which I make this sweater, so I’m writing about it.  

The pattern is called the Butterfly Pullover by Mel Clark.  It’s in a book called Knit 2 Together, Patterns and Stories for Serious Knitting Fun co-written by Tracey Ullman and Mel Clark.  I actually read this book cover to cover and recommend it.  The patterns are all very interesting yet classic and many of them are just straight up fun!  (I'm hoping to one day make the witch's britches and the gym slip dress.)  There are also little Ullman tales sprinkled about the book that add charm and humor.  There’s one story, “A Close Call” that is a must-read and probably experienced in some capacity by most yarn-crafters.  (Tracey with knitting project got out of car.  Ball of yarn that is being used to knit sweater remained in car.   😱  Something similar happened to me on the subway and on a plane and maybe on the Staten Island ferry and then I learned my lesson.)  

The Butterfly Pullover is a henley pullover knit in four parts -- the front, the back, and two sleeves.  These parts are then sewn together.  I just don’t like sewing pieces together.  I’m actually really good at it, but I prefer to knit things together as much as possible.  I will usually only sew things together if they are striped or the garment needs side seams to fit better.  I read through the instructions and the only challenge I see to knitting both sides at the same time together is the intarsia portion (intarsia in the round is no fun).  The intarsia at the top of the sweater will be knit back and forth because they have to be separate in order to create armholes.  The intarsia butterfly on the lower right front section will have to be done in the round.  Do I really want that intarsia detail?  I could easily eliminate it.  After seeing how many stitches I’d need to carry backwards to bring the yarn back for the next row, I’ve decided to skip the intarsia butterfly and will knit the sweater in the round and keeping the intarsia flowers for the portions where I will be knitting the sweater back and forth.  If I have extra yarn, I will add a kangaroo pocket to the front.  


Now I can start knitting the project!

I have been plodding away on my Stash Dash goals and instead of staying focused on one task, I’ve decided to start working on the design for the sweater I have in my head.  This sweater design would also be part of Stash Dash so it’s not really like I’m easily distracted . . . 

In any case, I’m planning on using this fantastic alpaca yarn my cousin, Ana, sent me from Peru.  I believe she gets this yarn at the local artisan market.  It is called the Mercado de Indios and is located on the Avenida Petit Thouars in Miraflores, Lima.  It’s a great spot.  If you’re ever in Lima, Peru, you should check it out.  While I’m plugging Lima, I should add that my fantastic prima (cousin) has a wonderful B&B in Lima called the Residencial Miraflores.  It was recently, very positively reviewed in The Guardian and is listed as one of the ten best B&B’s in Lima.  Go, Ana!  She's the best!  I could go on about Ana, she certainly deserves lavish praise, but I did intend to write about gauge swatching so I'll get back to that.  (You see, I'm not easily distracted.)

I’ve been knitting for about 15 years now, but this is the first time I noticed the difference in gauge from knitting flat and knitting in the round.  It was eye-opening.  I’d read this before and had done my gauge swatches in the round when called for, but I hadn’t actually taken the time to really observe and feel the difference. 

I didn't like this denser, heavier fabric, so I purled a row and switched to size 7/4.5 mm needles.  I knit another 8 rounds, but also felt like the fabric was still a little dense and heavy.  The gauge was now 5 stitches per inch.  I purled another round and went up another needle size to size 8/5 mm.  The fabric still didn't look or feel the same so I measured again and the gauge was 4.75 stitches per inch.  Again, I purled a round and went up a needle size to size 9/5.5 mm.  Finally, the fabric felt the way I wanted it to feel.  It took going up three needle sizes to get back to the original gauge of 4.5 stitches per inch.  What a difference!  I didn't realize how lucky I'd been to have mindlessly knit my gauge swatches in the way they would be knit!  I'd never understood why someone's sweater couldn't fit properly if they'd swatched and matched the gauge called for in the pattern, but in this case, if I'd assumed that the size 6 needles while knitting flat was the correct needle size, I could have ended up with a denser and heavier sweater without the drape I wanted even though I'd done a swatch with a gauge of 4.5 stitches per inch.  So, knitters, make sure you always knit your gauge swatch in the same manner you intend to make the item!  If you plan to knit something in the round, knit your swatch in the round.  If you plan to knit the item back and forth, knit your swatch back and forth.  The evidence is right here.