Finished Object: Etude In Stripes Cardigan

I finally finished my sweater, 5 days too late to enter it into the KAL I was thinking of entering it in. (Knitting Expat's September KAL)

Oh well.

It is loose but still cute, slouchy but not too slobby, big enough to wrap around my entire baby belly (I'm thinking once I have the baby it will look cute belted), and most importantly incredibly amazingly excruciatingly warm.

I am the first one in my house to feel the cold- my husband likes sleeping with the fan on year-round, and I like snuggling under the covers even in the summer. During the winter I try not to stray too far from the fireplace, and will often wear MANY layers- a cami, a fitted tee, a long sleeve shirt, a larger shirt, a light sweater, and a jacket on top sounds great to me and that's in my backyard in California. Let's not even entertain the possibility of going to the snow! This sweater will probably cut out the need for like at least half of my layers, it is so warm.

The alpaca does shed a little, and the contrasting color is actually a mohair blend as it turns out so that sheds a little bit too, and it's not itchy which is a relief. In the photos I'm wearing only a spaghetti strap under it and it feels surprisingly comfortable.

My favorite thing about this sweater is that it was made with 100% stash yarn! That is a great feeling, for sure. I can't wait to pick out my next project. Something about my life now (probably how busy I am!) has transformed me into a mostly monogamous knitter, which is very different for me but also really cool because it seems like things get finished faster. I'm sort of torn between something else for the baby (I have some beautiful purple Simply Soft that I could use), a Plum Blossom Tee for which I have the pattern and yarn already but which simply won't fit until far into next year and why even work on a tee when it's going to be winter!?, or something using my giant pile of Cascade Ecological Wool, or maybe using up the thick black cotton that I bought ages ago which is the softest thing on the planet and wants to be a sweater which would be boring to knit but great to wear. I'm just not sure what project will jump out at me, but either way I have to weave in the ends to my sweater first!