I am so happy to finally be finished with this sweater! I got absolutely nothing accomplised yesterday aside from putting Bianca together. I was so excited that I even wore it today! It was surprisingly warm for this 38-degree morning. I have to admit that I didnt' realize what I was getting myself into when I decided I could re-create the Lucy sweater from the Fossil Holiday 2008 catalog. The knitting itself was not difficult. But, first I had to take measurements and use them to calculate gauge - without the inspirational sweater, then draw a schematic, and improvise throughout. My head spun a couple of times!
First, I had a hard time figuring out how to get the hems to stand out from the rest of the knitting. In hindsight, accomplishing this was definitely easier and less time consuming than the method I chose. Initially, I knitted a very tight garter stitch for the hem but it looked way too homemade. I hated it by the time I was done knitting the back piece. So, I ended up doing a psuedo-steeking exercise to get them just right. There was something very horrific about cutting into my knitting, but the seams I sewed in (by machine) worked just fine. I even went back and sewed them two more times to be sure I wouldn't unravel!
As for the fit, I could be a little happier. I don't know whether to blame it on the mediocre yarn or the amount of cables, but the sleeves didn't block out as much as I would have liked. They are a bit tight - but I'm hoping they'll stretch. Maybe I'll use a little steam? It also annoys me that the edges of the button band tend to curl inward, and the side seams aren't laying flat enough. Again, I think steaming may help.
Aside from those few peeves, I love the sweater. It turned out almost exactly the way I wanted. And best of all - I had fun knitting it! My first thought was to knit it in some gorgeous Plymouth Tweed I have, but for some reason, I couldn't vision this sweater being tweed. Besides, I'd much rather stare at the skeins of yarn I already own than knit with it. That almost makes as much sense as buying yarn when I have plenty stuffed in various places around my home!!
The details:
- Yarn: Patons Classic Wool (merino is missing on the label); almost 5 skeins; dark gray mix
- Needles: US 7 for the body & US 6 for the hems/button bands
- Began November 17, ended December 8 (took almost a week off for Thanksgiving)
Do you see that eerie blue glow? I forgot to turn the tv off.
I must say that after spending an hour taking photos, I have got to figure out how to take better indoor pictures on my digital camera. It does great outdoors in natural light and when I use the flash indoors, but the flash completely destroys the the colors and fine details. I've seen so many great pics taken with the same Canon Powershot I have on the Flickr group for this camera. I need to learn! Note to self: New Years resolution!
This will most likely be my last sweater for the year. Even though I don't have any knitted gifts planned, I really need to start applying myself to shopping......of course, I could always whip out a project with the aforementioned Plymouth Tweed.....
