Avalanche sweater

I finished my first super-bulky Dulaan project, a 30" chest sweater.

This sweater took EXACTLY 6 skeins of yarn. Here's what I had left from those 6 skeins.

Sweater guidelines

(note: the following instructions were composed after I finished, and I hope you'll use them cautiously and exercise common sense.)

Gauge: 2 sts/in and 2.5 rows/in
Size 13 needles (a 24" circular and a set of DPNs)

CO 56 stitches and join.
K1P1 ribbing for 3 rows.
Switch to stockinette, and inc. 4 evenly around the sweater (60 sts).
Continue in st st until sweater meaures 12"
Divide for front and back by placing 30 stitches on a holder (I use yarn).
Back
On remaining 30 sts, k1, ssk, knit to last 3, k2tog, k (28 stitches)
Continue in st st (k a row, p a row) until total length is 19.5".
Break yarn, leaving a sizable tail. Place these 28 stitches on holder.
Front
Move the other 30 sts from holder to needle. Join new yarn so the first row will be a right side row.
k1, ssk, knit to last 3, k2tog, k (28 stitches)
Continue in st st until total length is 17"
Knit the first 9 sts, and place the remaining 19 sts on a holder.
Turn and purl back.
Knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k (8 sts)
P next row
Knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k (7 sts)
Continue over these 7 sts in st st until piece measures 19.5" from bottom edge (or same as back).
Break yarn, leaving a tail, and place these stitches on a holder.
Leaving the center 10 sts on the holder, place the 9 sts on the other side of the neck onto your needle. Join yarn at neck edge (so first row is a RS row), knit across and purl back.
K1, ssk, k to end (8 sts)
P next row
K1, ssk, k to end (7 sts)
Continue in st st over these 7 sts in st st until piece measures 19.5" from bottom edge (or same as back).
Break yarn, leaving a tail, and place these stitches on a holder.
Avoiding seams
Join the shoulders with a 3 needle BO. This should leave you with 14 center back sts still on a holder.
Sleeves
With a circular needle, pick up and knit 2 out of every 3 stitches along one of the armhole openings. (For me, this resulted in 30 stitches to start the arm, but your mileage may vary.)
Mark the center bottom of the armhole.
Knit around once.
(You're now going to do a single short row to help with the shape of the arm)
On next round, knit until you are within 3 sts of the center of armhole. Wrap and turn.
Purl back until there are 3 sts before the center marker. Wrap and turn.
Resume regular circular knitting. Decrease 2 sts every 6 rounds until 18 sts remain.
(I did this by knitting to 3 sts before marker, k2tog, k, slip marker, k, ssk)
When sleeve measures 13", begin k1p1 ribbing.
Rib for 1.5". BO loosely in rib.
Repeat for the other sleeve.
Neck edge
Transfer back neck stitches to a circular needle. Knit them off. Pick up and knit 5 stitches between shoulder and front stitches on holder.
Transfer front stitches to a needle and knit them off.
PU 5 more stitches.
Rib for 2 rows.
BO loosely in rib.

Notes: I hate sewing in ends, so I spit-spliced the yarn whenever possible. You MUST unravel the plies of the avalanche yarn and trim down at least one of them to accomplish this.
I even spliced new yarn to the tails left from the shoulder joining to pick up the armhole stitches. If you're not quite so fanatic about tails, you may need slightly more than 6 skeins. I really only had a yard total of yarn scraps left.

In other news
We went to the Teacup today to stock up on our breakfast tea. We got some Bombay Market while we were there. It's a black tea with apricot and passionfruit. Mmm, fruity.

Also, to clarify something in my last post: I wasn't implying anything about my dear mom. (C'mon, folks, she reads the blog.) She really, literally had squirrels living in her attic. I think the nice pest control folks had to relocate 19 or so of them.