I hear there was some type of snow event on the East Coast? Well, this is what it was like yesterday in San Francisco :)
Actually, I was very aware of the predicted snow storm last weekend. We flew out of Newark on Saturday morning, and I felt like the blizzard was right on our heels! But back to the lovely sweater in the photo above.....
I bought the yarn for this sweater at Art Fibers almost exactly three years ago. I was a newish knitter, and I didn't know how to make my own pattern up for a sweater. They wrote a pattern for me, based on this bloused dress they had on display in the store. I got started on it right away, I believe, and I even talk about the sweater in my third post of my blog.
The Art Fibers pattern started out pretty well. I didn't have circulars of the correct size to start the collar, so I knit it flat and joined to work in the round after a couple of inches. This worked out well in the end. I just added a button and a loop to the top and voila, the sweater has a keyhole opening in the back.
As I was knitting the body of the sweater I realized that the blousing effect from the pattern would not work. The silk was too heavy, and it wouldn't have enough memory to do the ribbing to pull it in at the bottom. This is, I believe, when the sweater went unknit for over a year.
Eventually I came back to it, and I finished the sweater with the same lacy ribbing that I had used at the collar. Then the sweater sat, armless, for another very long time.
In November, I came across the sweater again and tried it on. It fit. I liked the color. I liked the way it felt. Why the heck did I never finish it? After a few evenings, it was all finished up. I made the sleeves 3/4 length, and I finished them off with some deep lacy ribbing like you see in the rest of the sweater. Since I hadn't knit that lace pattern in over a year, I had to re-construct it. It's a good thing it was pretty simple!
It's so nice to have finished something that long in the making!
Pattern: Started out as an Art Fibers custom pattern, but then it became my own custom pattern
Yarn: Art Fibers Hana, 5 skeins
Needles: US 1.5 for the ribbing, US 3 for the stockinette
Time to Knit: January 2007 - November 2009
I think the wait was worth it, because it's a really gorgeous sweater! Beginner's luck?!? Maybe not :).
Posted by: grumperina | December 23, 2009 at 08:44 PM
Haha, thank you for rubbing your fantastic weather in. The sweater looks perfect for the sunshine!
Posted by: Mildawg | December 23, 2009 at 08:50 PM
Ooh, looks fantastic on you! Funny how sometimes the simplest things are the loveliest and most elegant.
Posted by: Laine | December 23, 2009 at 09:08 PM
You were a very brave newish knitter with your size 1.5 and 3 needles to knit your first sweater! It's beautiful.
Posted by: Linda | December 23, 2009 at 11:00 PM
congrats - it looks great and probably even feels better that you have this one out of your UFO pile!
merry christmas eve!
Posted by: jody | December 24, 2009 at 08:19 AM
It looks fabulous on! Nice work snd Merry Christmas!
Posted by: Stacey | December 24, 2009 at 10:49 AM