Imp is a major letdown

I was diligently swatching last week for Pumpkin Girl's Sweet Heart (aka Imp) sweater. When I finally started knitting the sleeves, it turned out too big as in 9" wide for a 8 yo old kid. Something is seriously wrong here.

According to the pattern, size 8-9 fits 28" chest. Gauge is 23 x 32 over 10 cm. Cast on for back piece = 117 stitches. Whoa! That comes out to almost 20" for the back. It will look like a tent on my 7 yo daughter. So it looks like I will need to rethink this pattern. Out came the calculator, Ann Budd's book pictured below and a favorite shirt for comparison.


Since I'm making changes to the pattern, might as well knit it in the round.

BTW, the pattern called for 10 balls of the MC and 4 of the CC. I'm about 5" into the body and on my second ball. I bet I'll have so much leftover yarn.