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https://preview.redd.it/arcdvenitykc1.jpg?width=1657&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e0bf9be5f5dc5014341e774c5ec80aa03021b543

I'm having difficulty with sizing this sweater correctly, and would like some advice before frogging and trying again. I'm knitting Goldenfern by Jennifer Steinglass, knit.love.wool. I started the size with a finished bust measurement of 53.25" for my 48" bust with the recommended 4-8" of ease. The yoke ease works nicely, but the body comes out tighter than I am comfortable with. FYI, there is about 1" of ribbing that I didn't finish at the bottom so that I could get an idea of how it fits. So don't hold the curling against the pattern.

Some notes on this pattern: I had to size up my needles to 5's rather than the suggested 4 to get the right gage, which makes the body stitch tension looser than I usually like, but not so loose that it's a dealbreaker. Also, the pattern calls for the body colorwork to be done on needles 2 sizes bigger than the body needles. In this case, I would be using size 7 needles to knit colorwork in fingering yarn, which seems to be more likely to have visual bleeding from the floats and other tension issues from knitting small yarn on needles that are too big to achieve the desired end results.

The options I see are:

1.) Take the sweater back to just before the colorwork, size up to size 7 like the pattern suggests I should, and try again. I don't know if you can see it in the photo, but looking close at the sweater, I can see the yellow floats through the blue sts, so I feel like this will be worse on size 7 needles.

2.) Take the sweater back to just under the arm holes and gradually add another 18 sts (the number of sts in the pattern repeat) and proceed with the size 6 needles. It looks like it will add ~2" to the waist. I'm not sure if that will be enough, or if it will make the sweater look like a bad attempt at a peplum top or something.

2.) Start over, use size 4 needles to get the stitch tension that I like best, and size up several sizes to get the ease I'm looking for in both the bust and waist.

This is my first colorwork pattern, so I don't know how much the tension will get evened out with blocking. I'm also frustrated that after knitting the sample swatches and measuring carefully, I'm getting the same fit issues I always seem to get when making something for myself. It must be that I'm doing something wrong from the beginning, but I'm not sure what.