Done and Not Done

As the update said late Friday, I could not get through enough of the shawl to make it reasonably possible to get it all done.  The weather played havoc with my hands and though this isn't a cobwebby lace yarn, I just could not make my hands work together well enough to keep an even tension.

And in truth, after about an inch, I also realized it was an unreasonable hope to finish the shawl by Tuesday.  Maybe for some, but not for me.  For me, knitting this shawl is going to have to be a slow process where I can take my time to play with my gauge and knit it well rather than fast.  They are two very different things in this household.  

So back to the sweater.  It is done!

The last photos I have of it, were as it was blocking before the final finishing.  The buttons still needed to be done as well as the ribbing along the sleeve hems.  I'd do better photos of it now, but it is upstairs where Mr Needles is still sleeping.  

All the bits are done now, and I am so very very pleased with it.  

I wore it to work yesterday and it was a very well recieved.  I'd say it was a hit, but that sounds a little too rockstar-ish for this very earthy goodness sort of sweater. (I think I will wear this as if it was a rockstar sweater and I, his greatest fan)   

The pattern is Freyja from Knitting Iceland, a new online magazine, and the yarn is the Icelandic in spirit only, Sirdar Eco DK.  The yarn is Icelandic in spirit because it is a lightly spun sort of yarn with lots of volume for a DK weight.  

There were several diversions from the design.  In the beginning, I worried that I would not have enough of the lightest colour yarn so I felt I needed to knit some bands with the colours.  I have 2 balls of the lightest yarn left and I used just under 2 balls combined of the other colours.  It would have been very close, but I would have made it.  Still I like the bands and the warm grey and brown.   

Because of the length of the design and for fit, I decided not do the increase/decrease sections that the original has.  I opted for a simple gentle decreasing till the fit was right at the underarms.  

I made a 3/4 length sleeve rather than the full length the pattern has.    Part of this was the worry about running out of yarn and deciding to knit down later, rather than stretch my resources before I was certain, and part because when I knew I could go full length, I felt lazy and decided to knit only the ribbing for a nice 3/4 sleeve.  A full length sleeve would always be pushed up anyway.

With the addition of the bands of colour before and after the Icelandic rose and with the soft lovely way the other 2 colours were working up, I wanted just a touch more of them for balance and accent.  I finished all the edges with a ribbed edge.   2 rows main colour, followed by 2 of each of the other colours ending with the darkest colour. I knit 3 one row button holes instead of using the loop closing the original has.

The one thing I did differently that may have changed the way the sweater functions was the ribbing.  The original is finished with a crocheted edging of one strand of Lopi and one strand of kid mohair.  It makes a very crisp no stretch finish to the edge.  Where it might matter to the way the sweater performs is at the neckline.  With its very open stretchy ribbed neckline, mine feels like it is about to fall off my shoulders.  I did reinforce the ribbing with some elastic, but I may yet go back and weave in a strand of kid silk to give it it's proper crisp edge.

But my goodness, what a good pattern and good fit.  Wonderful sizing options and I think it would look fantastic on many body types.  Raggaknits and the Knitting Iceland webzine, it is a hit!