is anyone knitting this at a smaller gauge? If i made the XS i'd have about 3 inches of ease...which is far more than i want! so i'm trying to figure out the gauge i need to get it down to about 1 inch - which isn't so easy since there's 3 stitch patterns. guess i'll have to knit swatches of all of them and calculate. or i could just start and hope it turns out fine

Unless you are really tiny, I think 3 inches of ease is about what I'd want to see in this style sweater.  Ease does not always mean loose or baggy.  I don't think anything looks worse on a cardigan than buttons which  are pulling so I NEVER make a cardigan with less than 2-3 inches of ease.  Just my opinion of course.

Have you checked out Knitting Dailys Galleries. They show the same sweater on multiple people with ease varying from positive to negative.  It's  very interesting, I'm learning that maybe I should go smaller for pullovers but that my preference for ease in cardigans is a good one. Heres the link:

http://www.knittingdaily.com/gallery/index.html?ET=knittingdaily_blog:e917:86027a:&st=email

The only problem I'm having is that because i adapted it to knit in the round, i can't figure out how to do the sleeves - i've got 52 (i think it was meant to be 54 but oh well) held stitches, and then it says to cast on 4 at each end, but the armhole edge of the body is way bigger than 8 stitches worth, so i'm a bit confused. Can anyone else who knit it in the round advise?

I'm not sure what you mean by the "armhole edge of the body is way bigger than 8 stitches"? 

I knit mine in the round doing the sleeve and body increases as specified in the pattern until I got to the point where I needed to separate sleeves from body. 

I put the sleeves on holders, knit the body to the first sleeve, cast on 8 stitches, knit the second half of the body, cast on 8 stitches then joined in the round and continued knitting.

When I get ready to do the sleeves I will put the sleeve on the needle, pick up 8 sts in the cast on sts of the body, join in the round and knit.

I don't believe I did this.

As the body of the sweater has grown it's been bothering me how stiff and HEAVY it is.  Like bulletproof heavy.

And how much yarn it's been eating up.

I figured it out tonight.  Instead of cabling every 8 rows Ihave been cabling every 4 rows.

sigh.....

I think I'll spend tomorrow ripping.  If it were wearable like this I'd leave it.  But it's so heavy and stiff it would never be comfortable.

Koshare:  Maybe I missed it, but what yarn are you using for yours?  It looks great so far. 

Paton's Classic Wool Merino.  It was on sale last week at Michael's for $3.50 a skein so I could not resist.  An entires sweaters worth for just over $20!

i'm thinking of starting this as my first sweater.....do you guys think this might be a bit much to attempt for a first garment? 

It's really not too difficult but you do need to be able to keep track of multiple patterns at once.  Stitch counters help 

Progress!  Although I really seem to keep knitting and knitting and KNITTING and it's still just over 12 inches...

http://fiberfiend.com/store/corsica.html

Ordered the pattern, just waiting for it to arrive..
Not sure which yarn to use. Any ideas? Wondering if anything in Michaels or Hobby Lobby would work. I don't want to wait for an internet order to come from Knit Picks:)

Well I was going to suggest Lion Wool or Paton's classic wool but then I saw that it uses a Bulky yarn.... you could double them?

Thanks for this. So which side should have a right slanting cable and which side should have a left slanting cable and what about the back?

It doesn't matter.  Whichever you prefer, there are no rules.  In fact many people don't care if it's symmetrical or not.  The Phildar pattern isn't symetrical at all.

I feel like I am in a knitting black hole.  I measured the body earlier this week and it was almost 12 inches.  I knit all week, used an entire ball of yarn and now it measures just slightly over 12 inches.  I think I may put all 300+ stitches on hold and work on a sleeve for awhile. It would be nice to see some progress.

Can anyone think of a reason why the body on this sweater could not be knit in one piece?

That's what I'm planning....

I'm thinking about yarns.... Michaels has both Lion Wool and Patons Classic Merino on sale for 30% off this week....