Demi--finally finished!

Demiis finished! Seamed, ends woven in, buttons attached and everything. Overall, I'm very happy with how this sweater turned out, and I think it looks adorable with the vintage plaid wool skirt I thrifted last year at the Salvation Army. My only disappointment is that the fit is off--it came out rather child-sized, which is probably due to my yarn choice, and lack of careful swatching. It's snugger than I had wanted (I was going for negative ease, but not quite so much) and it's also too short in both the body and sleeves. That being said, I'll wear it anyway. It's such a nice, classic style.


I used some natural-looking green buttons I had purchased for a recent failed sewing project. They actually were quite right in size and color for this sweater. I also learned a couple new knitting techniques that were very useful. As mentioned in a previous post, I bought blocking wires for this sweater. I had never been much of a blocker before, but I finally understand why this step is so vitally important. It noticeably evened out the stitches--especially on the cables, and helped the ribbed sections keep from bunching up. I also used a tubular binding on the neck edge--it's really nice, and not very difficult! It gives you a nice, smooth edge like you would find on many store-bought sweaters. I used the instructions from The Knitter's Handbook,but there are also several tutorials online.


In other news, I'm also having fit issues with Joy,but at least I realized this before I seamed her up. Below is what I knit on the back panel--it's a whopping 13 inches wide. Um, it's supposed to be about 18"...so I think I'm going to have to rip this out. I did swatch this yarn, but for some reason chose to believe it would be fine anyway. I'm knitting at about 30 stitches per inch, whereas the pattern calls for 26 stitches per inch. This is not ok. I will be moving up to the large or extra large size in order to accommodate this difference.


A note on knitting needles: I bought a huge set of bamboo double point needles a couple years ago, and use them for everything. I just tie a rubber band around the ends so the stitches don't slip off. The set I bought was really cheap (<$15, including shipping) and included 5 needles in each size from 0 to 15. Quite a deal. There are a few people online who sell these needles (also in circular and conventional styles). They aren't as nice as Clover Needles,but they're cheap, and it sure beats running out to buy a new set of needles for every project!