We have sweater sorta

I finished knitting! not sure my right arm will ever recover... this thing is HEAVY and a poster child for why to learn continental knitting rather than 'throwing the yarn'. 

Though maybe picking at yarn held in my non dominant hand would not make a difference. I am used to knitting with fingering yarn now, and look at the difference in stitch size! 

 

(I tried to get a shot of the two yarns side by side, but the bulky stuff kept leaving a massive shadow owing to its massiveness. hopefully you get the idea.)

In any case, the knitting is done and I am on to the running in of ends and armpit grafting.

I could not be happier with the way the yoke came out. I was envisioning something loose and beatnik-y with a wide sloppy neck, and that's exactly what I got. Except...

This sweater, as a whole, looks TERRIBLE on me! It's far too long and it's weirdly clingy through the body.  My idea to add two inches, do slits up the side, and work a flat border rather than ribbing just did not pay off. Maybe if I'd made the slits about three inches longer? 

I was feeling pretty low about it until I thought of the *sweater* being *shorter*. I experimented by folding up the bottom, which was encouraging enough to actually stitch it up...

And then try it on. What a difference! It now hangs perfectly and doesn't cling at all. It's the Beatnik-shaped sweater of my dreams... with a very big hem.

 

If you squint you can just see on the fold where I accidentally went up a row with my stitches. Thankfully I am still just basting, and it won't be a problem to rip back and redo.

If I knit another, I can copy this one completely apart from making it *four inches* shorter. Oh, my sore arm, how I could have spared you.

(spoiler: you know I am totally going to knit another, though what colour I'd pick, I have no idea.)

 

Meanwhile, we're into an overnight snowfall that should make our front lawn ideal for a snow village with snow people in it, complete with town hall, rather than one lonely snowman. It's making a very pretty pattern on the back deck.

Hope you're staying warm wherever you are, and having a lovely weekend. Thanks for dropping by - see you next Saturday!