This is a sweater/jacket knit from 5 skeins of Peacefleece (plus a little bit of green) in the Spirit of Zimmerman.  You know what that means people.  Cast on 20 stitches using the needle of your choice and knit your swatch in garter stitch.  Now get out your tape measure and get ready for the math.

I made this sweater for a lovely woman from California who wanted a sweater from Maine wool that would fit her short (4 foot 5 inch) broad shouldered adorable self.  She was tired of sweaters that wouldn't button across her chest, but nevertheless flopped off the ends of her hands.  I am going to use her measurements for this pattern......but you will of course be using your own measurements.

When I knit up Peacefleece I get 4 stitches to the inch.  For this sweater I used a size 5 needle, but I get this same gauge using any needle size from 4 through 7.  So for your purposes I'll tell you what I know for sure that I did, but you will want to test the yarn of your choice (worsted is a good weight for this design) and use the needles that you like to use (a long circular would be my choice for this but, again, up to you).  I am going to assume you are either making this sweater for yourself or you have a sweater and/or sweatshirt or other garment that your object of knitting affection likes the fit of.  The right amount of yarn for this sweater is somewhere between 20 and 28 ounces, or 5 to 7 skeins of Peacefleece.  Be aware that some worsted weight yarn skeins are 3.5 ounces and a few, like Peacefleece, are 4 ounces.  I am old enough to remember when all worsted weight yarn came in 4 ounce skeins, which is an indicator of just how long I have been knitting.

We're going to start with the band at the bottom.  Cast on 20 stitches or so and start knitting in garter stitch.  Remember to slip the fist stitch of every row.  You should always do this unless there is a very good reason not to....and there usually isn't.  If you would like to add some stripes here use your odd bit of differently colored worsted.  The stripes give a nice vertical effect at the bottom of the sweater.  Knit this band until it is as long as the circumference of your sweater needs to be plus 1 inch (for the button band overlap).  In this case  43 inches for a 40 inch chest with 2 inches of positive ease plus 1 inch for the button band.

At the end of the band don't forget to put in a botton hole centered in the middle of the 20 stitches in the last inch of so of your knitting.  Continue to knit for another 4 rows and bind off, but don't pull the end through the last stitch as you usually do....you have a purpose for that end.

Using the last stitch of your bind off as the first stitch of your picking up, pick up one stitch between each ridge of garter stitch.  See the picture above?  You want to find the garter stitch ridges and pick up one stitch between each ridge until you have gone all along the top of your band.  Now, aren't you glad that you slipped the first stitch of each row?  Didn't that make all that picking up easier?

Now knit back and forth in garter stitch until you have completed the sweater bottom up to the length you want under the arms.  For my lady that was only 14 inches, for you it may be either more or less.  Don't forget to incorporate button holes as you go.  For this sweater I made them 18 ridges apart, but that will depend on the size of your buttons and the height of your Knitting Object of Affection. End up with the right side of the sweater facing you.  Count your stitches.  For the purposes of walking you through the math let's use my Lady's numbers.  I had 172 stitches for the body.  I divide that by 2 to get 81 stitches.  I divide that by 2 to get 1/4 the number or 40.  Knit 36 stitches (40 - 4).  Bind off 9 stitches.  Knit 82 stitches.  Bind off 9 stitches.  Knit to the end of the row.    Leave these stitches on the needle and start your arms.

Again, cast on 10-15 stitches and knit in garter stitch until your cuff band is as long as you would like it to be.  For my lady this was 7 inches.  Bind off leaving the last stitch as the first stitch of your picking up row.  Pick up between the garter ridges and start knitting to make the sleeves.  Increase at the beginning and end of every other right side row (every 4th row) until you have a number of stitches that is equal to 1/3 of the number of stitches that you have on the body of the sweater.  It is perfectly fine if you have a 2-6 extra, but don't have less.  If necessary continue to knit straight until your sleeve is as long as you need it to be from the underarm to the wrist. End up with the right side of the sleeve facing you. Bind off the first 5 stitches of the next two rows and place the remaining stitches on a holder.  Make another sleeve to match.

Now we're going to place all of the stitches on one long circular needle.  You can knit them on if you wish or you can just slide them onto the needle.  Place or knit 36 stitches from the front of the sweater on your needle with the wrong side of the sweater facing you (this is important).  Now place the stitches from one sleeve on the needle, again with the wrong side facing you.  Slide the stitches (82) for the back of the sweater onto your needle.  Again with the other sleeve with the wrong side facing you.  And now slide the remaining 36 stitches for the other front onto your needle.  Look at your work closely to make sure that when you begin knitting you don't create a double ridge on one side and a double valley on the other side, which is what will happen if you make a "mistake" with your garter stitch.  You want to be able to knit every row without interrupting your garter stitch.  Check again.  Now attach your yarn if necessary and begin knitting.  Knit across the front of the sweater (36 stitches) and place a marker.  Knit across the sleeve (50 stitches for my sweater) and place another marker.  Knit across the back of the body (82 stitches) and place a marker.  Knit across the other sleeve (50 stitches) and place a marker.  Knit to the end of the row.  Knit every round for 1 inch or approximately 10 ridges, but at the same time and on the wrong side only I want you to purl the stitch just before and just after each marker.  This will give you a nice clean column of knit stitches that will provide crisp decrease lines when we begin to decrease for the raglan sleeves.

Are you still paying attention to your button holes?  Don't forget.

Now for the decreasing.  On the right side knit to withing 2 stitches of your marker.  Now K2tog, slip marker, Slip one, knit one, pass slip stitch over (from now on we're going to call this PSSO); keep this up for the next 3 markers.  Do this decrease round every other row (every right side row) until you have 8-9 stitches remaining between the two sleeve markers or 5% of your total body number.

We're going to do some short row shaping now in order to raise the back of the neck a bit.  Knit past the second decrease set above the second sleeve, turn your work, slip the first stitch and knit back to just past the other sleeve decrease set, turn your work, slip the first stitch and knit until you have gone between the two decrease columns of the second sleeve, turn your work, slip the first stitch and knit back to between the two decrease rounds on the other sleeve, turn your work, slip the first stitch and knit to just before the two decrase columns, turn your work, slip the first stitch and knit to just before the other set of sleeve decrease columns, turn your work slip the first stitch and knit to the end of your collar.  On the side above your button holes bind off 5 stitches.  Knit back and forth for 8 rows.  PSSO on the first stitches of every row for the next 6 rows and then bind off loosely.  You will need to switch to a bigger needle (go up 4 sizes) for your bind off in order to make it loose enough. Stretch the bound off edge gently to ease the roll of the collar.

Sew up your underarm sleeve seams, matching the bound off corners at the underarms and using mattress stitch for the long sleeve seams.  Soak your work in warm water, press out the water and then roll it in a towel to squeeze out more water.  Lay the sweater out on a flat surface matching the chest, sleeve, and length measurements to your original plan numbers.  Leave it peacefully to dry.  Sew on your buttons.