Done!

Sahara is finished and blocking.

Two cats flew past me as I went into the dining room this morning.  I think I know why!

Two tiny kitty footprints.  They do love to nap on the sopping wet knitting!

My thoughts on Sahara at the end?  Meh.  I think I could have safely made the extra small, although mine is by no means huge (why do I always think I’m bigger than I am?)  The sleeves are big, and while I could have picked up fewer stitches, the problem is really that the armholes were too large, resulting in a drop shoulder look.  I am happy with the length of the sleeves.  They look short in the photo above, but they’re safely elbow length due to the long shoulders.

I may reknit the bottom hem on smaller needles, depending on how it comes out.   I was worried it would be tight, but it’s fine.

My neckline is doing something weird too.

See how it pulls up at the bottom?  That will not block out.  The collar in that back wants to stand up too.  I need to redo the sewing of the middle seam – I just kind of tacked it down, since I wasn’t sure exactly where I wanted it.  I will not wear this without a tank under it, because the way it falls you would see my bra through the lace, so I want the neck pretty low like this.

But I love the color.  And the yarn was really nice to work with.  My stitches looked uneven to me before blocking (my purls are always slightly looser than my knits because I knit continental) but with blocking that has completely disappeared.  And I will wear this sweater (hello, favorite color!)  I reserve final judgement until I try it on after blocking, as I find this usually makes a huge difference.  And if I’m not happy with it then, I can think of a few tweaks I can try (smaller needles on the hem, stretchier bind-off for the center lace panel.)

I’ll try for modeled shots this weekend!