FO Friday: I Heart Aran

(Straight off the needles)

 Pattern: I Heart Aran
Size: 32" (I measure 36")
Needles: US 6 (4mm)
Yarn: Cascade 220 Paints, Colorway "Flower Forest"

I made no modifications to the pattern, but I should have added some length. I reasoned that I could always go back and add length to the ribbing at the bottom. Not that I'm going to do that.

The pattern was well written, though I think I may have mis-read the short rows on the collar, because my collar seems much smaller than the one in the picture.

Random button from stash ^_^
Also I promise that stray black strand is thread and not a terrifying chest hair.

There was also an issue with the number of decreases at top of the sleeve cap, but Tanis was quick to respond to my email and give me the most recent pattern. Other than the Doctor Who incident, that was the only frogging necessary with this project.

There is minimal waist shaping in this sweater, and I really like the way the cables reinforce it. I probably should have tried out the waist shaping I learned about in Amy Herzog's Fit To Flatter class, but I was too lazy to do math. I really just wanted to work a fun design without worrying if it would fit me. (That's why this sweater is a size 32"- it's not for me, and I figured a smaller size would get done faster.)

The cable pattern itself was easy to work. I really appreciated that the written instructions accompanied the chart. I found myself using both, because if I ever got lost it was easier to find my place in the chart but my brain is more wired toward following the written instructions. Then once the heart was dropped at the neck, I almost didn't have to look at the pattern at all: I only had to look to see if I was working an X or an O. Fun and easy cables, and I love the way they look!

One thing I did not like about this pattern was the grafting at the armpit. Instead of binding off a few stitches to begin the armhole, the stitches were held and then grafted at the end. I felt like this just added more ends I had to work away. Plus I put the stitches on waste yarn instead of a stitch holder so the whole thing got pretty messy.

I like how you can SEE how loose my purl rows are!
(This is before I seamed the sleeves and sides)

Okay, so you may have noticed that my set-in sleeves aren't exactly the prettiest things in the world. I worked the seams twice before finally settling on the knowledge that I just can't make beautiful seams at this time of my knitting career. Check out Mauerbluemchen's project on Ravelry: BEAUTIFUL seams. They just look perfect... I watched videos, read tutorials, flipped through books, but I think the fact is I am just going to have to take a class on finishing. Either that or... get some patience. Ya know.

Mattress stitch along the sleeves and sides went well as usual, but it is the shoulder I have trouble with. And I'm sure I'm not the only one! Maybe I could practice with baby sweaters? I wish I had taken a picture of the sleeve cap and shoulder, because the actual cap did have quite a bit of extra fabric to accomadate, and I just did my best.

I'm still not really sure who I made this sweater for. Perhaps after blocking it will grow a bit and I will keep it. I think I made it just for physical evidence, so that one day when I'm better at knitting I can see how far I've come.

This far!

Anywho, thanks for visiting my blog and check out more finished objects with Tamis Amis.