I missed Friday but that is ok

Did you know that Friday can go missing?  Mine did so it felt like the work week was never going to end.  Work work work.  And then magic, Saturday morning!

But it did, and now we have this!

It looks pretty rough but all that is left is the finishing.  One small miscalculation meant I had to get fancy on the shoulders.  I did not make the sleeve holes as deep as I prefer.  And that meant that I had to do 3 rows of garter around the collar instead of the one I planned, because though the sleeve depth was short, the neckline was almost too low. I think I like it better with the 3 rows where I could use all 3 colours even better than the single black row I originally planned. If the saddle shoulder I did to resolve my issue gave me enough room, the crochet will come out on the sleeve edges and will be replaced by a sturdy band of garter stitch, just one row, but one sturdy row.  

There is a lot of finishing,  lots of ends of thick fluffy unspun yarn.  Its going to take some care and attention to weaving in without ripping off too short.  I think I will twist it before I work it.  Might even felt it a little and let it dry before the weaving begins.  

I was out for a Birthday brunch Sunday morning with one of my sons, his birthday, not mine, and on the way home stopped at the fabric store to pick up some buttons.  I thought a lot about buttons for something like this.  I debated a zipper but in my day to day, buttons work better.  They are certainly not the cheaper option.  

I choose a coat style button with a good shank and darkest black or black/brown.  Something solid and simple is needed, I think, for the thickness of the fabric.

I picked up some gros grain ribbon for the button band too.  The Knitmore Grils often talk about knitted things needing the support of something behind the buttons so the button band doesn't stretch and have some video how to's.  I have 2 sweaters where this is absolutely the case and decided quite a while ago, that the next complete sweater, was going to use ribbon to firm it up.

I guess that this is the next complete sweater, so here we go.

Seriously, I expect it will be next week till I can wear it.  Blocking is going to take a while and it needs a good blacking to settle the thick edges and lay everything straight.  But that thick yarny goodness will soon be mine.

Oh and I also did this!

 Next up present wrapping!  I love this time of year.