11.18.2007

Pattern: Forecast by Stefanie Japel
Book: Weekend Knitting
For: Me
Size: 36.5" bust
Yarn: 4.5 skeins of Northampton Valley Yarns in Merlot Heather
Needles: US size 6 and 8 Denise Interchangeables
Timeline: started 08.25.2007; finished 10.28.2007

I've wantd to make this sweater ever since I started knitting. I bought the yarn (a nice workhouse worsted wool) at Stitches and cast on the same month. This only took me one month to knit, but some button issues pushed the actual finish date back another month. The buttons I have now aren't that interesting, which is just what I wanted.

As for pattern modifications, I didn't make the bobbles smaller or eliminate them. This was the first time I did bobbles and I adored them! I knit the first sleeve as in the pattern and the second using Winnie's modifications. I ended up staying with the pattern as written. I had some issues with one cuff ending up too big, so I tried EZ's trick of adding some elastic thread to tighten it. It worked like a charm!

So, overall? I'm glad I knit this. The pattern is really a pattern for knitters (I can't remember who said that.). It's really interesting and fun to knit, and the gauge made it go pretty quickly.

Now, for the important questions: will I wear it? Well, it's warm, but not oppressively so, which is good. However, like I've seen Jenny and Nicole mention on Stash and Burn a few times lately, this is not a sweater that looks good open...at all. The ribbing just pulls the waist in oddly, which makes it look pretty funky. So, I'm not really sure about it. I'm going to have to see how it goes.