I finished knitting Strodie: the first draft of it, anyway.
And I do mean Finished: the ends are woven in and it was blocked. But I’m not sure it’s Done.
The Good: the fabric is fabulous. I have loved Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light for ages, and the Copper Corgi sock yarn was the perfect companion in silky semi-solid-ness.
The Bad:
- The neckline is too tight, after two attempts at working it.
- It’s too tight in the armpits. Not comfortable.
The I’m Not Sure:
- I redid the math on the sleeves because I wanted them more fitted; they might be a little too fitted.
- I was very unsure about the raglan neckline when I put it on. For some reason I felt like it made my upper arms look fat? I don’t usually succumb to such minuscule vanities, but this one stuck with me. But when I take pictures of the sweater with me in it, it looks fine.
- Cropped seems to work for me, but this is VERY cropped. It sort of works because I have a high waist, but I’m not sure it works with any of my clothes. Maybe I should buy a dress for it?
I’ve gone through a range of feelings about what to do with this sweater. Initially I was so annoyed with how it looked that I wanted to give it away. But I worked really hard on it for almost three months. I want it to work for me. It has sat in the timeout bin for a week now. I think I have a plan for it.
- Rip out cast-off and redo the garter stitch in the larger needle size and the I-cord bind off in a massive needle size.
- If still too tight at the neck, rip out one stripe repeat and put the neck lower.
- If, after neck is satisfactory, armpits are still too tight, separate arms and body and yoke, add two or three stripe repeats without shaping to the yoke, and reattach with epic Kitchener.
- If sleeves end up too long from this, take out stripe repeats from the bottom as necessary.
- If, after yoke is satisfactory, length still seems too short, cut off garter stitch at bottom and add stripe repeats until yarn is gone.
- If yoke cannot be made satisfactory, light on fire.
I’m out of town right now, so Strodie has a few more days to sit in the basket and think about how it’s behaved. We will begin our plan of correction sometime after I return.
Osborn Fiber Studio 
It looks really good, but if you don’t feel it’s right for you, then there’s no point in trying to convince yourself otherwise. I think your plan for the neckline is a good one but I’m not so sure about having to do all that Kitchener! I’d probably rip back to the armpit area and re-do the whole of the yoke, especially if the sleeves and body are joined and worked in the round to the neckline. As for the styling, I’m wondering how it would look with a shirt or blouse under it… or buy a dress!
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