done.

It’s been a bit of a crazy week since getting back to town last weekend – it was hard to find time to fit in a sweater photoshoot until this morning. But guys, this sweater is blocked. It fits. It’s everything I wanted it to be, and I feel like such a rockstar for making that happen.

The pattern – Plain and Simple – is very clear, but it doesn’t call for any shaping at all in the body, and I wanted to make something fitted. Fortunately, I decided to knit this for the indigodragonfly sweater knitalong, and so I ended up getting linked to some excellent blog entries on fit and shaping and making sweater patterns work.

It was not difficult at all, but it did involve patience and planning and a little bit of math, as well as a willingness to put aside my vanity and do a lot of measuring.

After I frogged this sweater the first time, I remeasured my swatch, and cast on enough stitches at the hips to fit my hip measurements with a half inch of positive ease. I placed my waist decreases in two “darts” at the back of the sweater, rather than along the sides, as that’s where my body changes size the most between my hips and waist (and also because I think it looks kind of cool.)

I decreased to 1″ of positive ease at my waist, and then increased for the bust at the traditional spots, creating false “side seams,” to zero ease at the bust.

Conveniently, that stitch count is very close to the stitch count for one of the pattern sizes, so I was able to follow the pattern directions almost exactly for the yoke.

I also knit the collar and button bands almost as written (they are still needing buttons, when I will take better photos of the sweater neckline), except for one major modification.

The pattern asks you to knit two left button bands, one for each side. Since I knew that I always wanted to have the left shoulder buttoned up, I decided to only knit one, with no buttonholes. To account for the fact that there needs to be a button band at each side on the collar, I cast on 11 extra stitches while picking up stitches for the collar, then worked everything as written.

The math and the modifications ended up making this project a lot more work than other ones I’ve done, but I’m so happy with the end product that I think it was probably worth it.

under the wire

I’m done. I’m actually, totally, (almost) done.

I finished weaving in the ends on my grey Plain and Simple pullover – the one I had to knit twice – on Sunday. It’s not blocked, but I wanted to take some photos now, just to prove I actually finished it. And in less than a month!

(Well, sort of. I started the original way back in October, but I frogged it all on Halloween and restarted it on the first.)

Of course, before this sweater is really done, I need to block it, and find some buttons, and do a proper photoshoot. But the knitting is done, and the end-weaving-in is done (except for a few on the collar), which feels like a pretty big accomplishment.

but the fourth one stayed up

I had the chance to make it out to the Toronto reading of Yarn Harlot’s new book last night, which was a lovely evening of pretty much every knitter I’ve ever met in the area. It was also a chance to get lots of knitting done, and – oh man, you guys.

That’s right. Guess who’s picked up for the collar? This gal.

This is the “home stretch” portion of this sweater, although I’m pretty sure that seven inches of ribbing on 2.5mm needles isn’t going to go as quickly as I think it will. I’ve tried on the finished (well, “finished” – please note the bright blue yarn tacking the shoulder seams together) body multiple times, and it totally fits the way it should before blocking, and I am ecstatic.