knitting school dropout

it's finished!

this photo gives the best representation of the color:

if the first 2 pictures seem awkward, that's because i was freezing to death while trying to get a picture outside. i only made it through 5 photos, then gave up.

my search for a plain wooly pullover with just a hint of cute is over. i have lots of cute sweaters (mostly store bought), in fine gauges but really nothing that i can throw on to really keep me warm, that's cute enough to still wear out of the house. i usually dislike bulky sweaters, but this one is heavier without feeling bulky.

this is a pretty standard top-down raglan. i didn't use any specific pattern. a few people asked me how i made the collar, so i'll try my best to explain it. i cast on wayyy fewer stitches for the front, and worked back and forth. on the rows where i was increasing on either side of the raglan markers i also increased one at each side of the neck. i kept doing this until the fronts had the angle i was going for. i then counted how many stitches i now had for the back section and when i came back to the front, i knit the stitches on one side, cast on the stitch difference between the front and back, joined and knit the second half of the front stitches, and continued knitting in the round.
later, i picked up the stitches around the neck, except for the cast on stitches. i knit them in 2x2 rib until the length of the collar matched the width of the cast on area. the fronts were then sewn down.
i'm planning on knitting a similar sweater out of some gorgeous malabrigo soon, so i'll try to take some progress photos to make the collar more clear.

the buttons are vintage. i was gifted them last year and had so few that i just had to knit something that would show them off. they have carved flower designs that are completely lost in these photos.

here are the details:

pattern: standard top down raglan with collar adjustments and minimal waist shaping
yarn: less than 5 balls of rowan scottish tweed aran.
needles: addi turbo us9 and us7 in 32" length

this sweater was super easy, just tons of stockinette, some ribbing, and a few buttons. unfortunately that made it a little boring and i kept abandoning it for other projects, like colorwork hats and mittens. i took a tremendous amount of effort to just finish the last sleeve, but i'm glad i did. this sweater will see lots of use this winter and i'm pretty happy with it.

now, back to the colorwork. i've charted out a hat and mittens using some designs from 1000 knitting motifs and i'm ready to start. i'm trying to really increase my comfort level so i can eventually tackle a fair-isle yoked sweater from the opinionated knitter.

speaking of sweaters, please go check out kate's amazing herringbone sweater, it's gorgeous. she also just posted a great tutorial on custom fitting a sweater.

have great week!