Top-down sweater in the round...cable length?

I hope someone can help me. I’m about to make my first top-down sweater in the round. The pattern calls for 4 mm and 4.5 mm circular needles, but it doesn’t specify anywhere what length the cable should be! I have a set of interchangeable needles, but I really have no idea what I should do…because the sweater is obviously going to start narrow and then widen out after the neck…

Also, I am a bit confused about the sizing of this pattern (it’s called Samhain Hares and was in Yarn Forward magazine). The sizes given are for bust size 34 and 39, which seems to be a very large gap. I am probably bust size 35 or 36, so I don’t know which size I should make. Any ideas?

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Most sweaters have some “ease” to the–how loose they are. Since you’re likely to wear it over something else, you need that room.

Unless you want a tight sweater, go with the bigger size.

Check out the ‘finished’ size, too, to see if there is a big difference in the ‘bust size’ and the ‘finished size.’ In some patterns they’re the same, in some, not.

Start the collar with a 16" needle, and when you need to, you can go up cable by cable length. You won’t need one as big around as the sweater by any means. You can usually get away with 24"

It may be tight on a 24", but it’s doable. I prefer the 32" size myself usually.

I’m working on a top down sweater myself. I’m a 38 so I’m knitting size L. The pattern calls for a 24" to start the neck and shoulders and then switches to a 32" for the bodice and below. Hope this helps.