Pattern: Flutter Sleeve cardigan by Pam Allen, Interweave Knits Sping  2008

Yarn: O wool Balance in Lapis

Needles: US 5, 4, 2

Notes: This sweater turned out so much better than I expected! I liked the sweater in the magazine, but I didn’t think it looked too great in the Knitting Daily Gallery. Even so, I had the perfect yarn, and exactly two perfect buttons, so I gave it a go. The smallest size in the magazine is a 36, which would have been large on me, so I removed around 18 stitches in order to make a size 32. It wasn’t too hard to make the adjustment. I knit fewer rows in the ribbing section, because my row gauge was larger than the pattern – I ended up with 20 rows instead of 24.

The pattern was clear and easy to follow. It did have rather a lot of finishing, which I don’t love, so keep that in mind – for instance, the button bands are knit separately and seamed onto the fronts, and you have to knit two little tabs and sew them on for the cuffs. The buttonholes are the only problem – the holes the pattern calls for wind up rather loose and stretchy, as you may be able to see in my photos. I don’t really care about that – I may sew them up a little bit, or I may not. I’m fine with it as is, but if I could do it again I would use a different buttonhole.

Unlike the sweater in the magazine, mine does not have a ton of extra fabric under the arms – there is a little, but not in a bad way. I think that’s because I chose to have negative ease – about one inch. Postive ease, due to the way the sweater is constructed, is going to probably give a lot of extra stuff under the arms.

I love this sweater for my body type – I am short waisted but have a long torso. For the record, the ribbing is hitting near my natural waist – only the top part is on my rib cage. I love empire waists because they are very flattering on me, but if I were longer waisted I would probably choose to make the ribbing happen closer to my waist.

The yarn was nice, but it wasn’t my favorite ever. It contained a lot of vegetable matter, and was a little harsh/dry to knit with. I could not really feel the wool content, to me it was like a slightly tweedy cotton. It was impossible to sew with (kept breaking) so half the sweater is seamed with a different yarn. I love the tweedy appearance, but I would most likely not use it again.

In the grand tradition of having cats appear in my FO posts, I would like to present the newest member of our kitty family, Sarah Jane.

She was found hiding near the expressway by a friend, nearly starved to death without any claws (even in the back.) She weighed only 6 pounds when we took her to the vet. She was clearly someone’s pet – in addition to the lack of claws she’s the sweetest kitty ever – her favorite place to sleep is curled up on top of my chest. We could not find her owner after an effort, and she is not microchipped, so now I suppose she’s ours! The vet says she’s somewhere between 2 and 7, it may become more clear when she gains some weight and her fur starts to look nicer – we gave her a bath, but starvation and living outside are not nice to kitties.

Bonus points if you guess where we got her name!