Happy blogiversary: A year in sweaters

Saturday marked my one year blogiversary!  Hooray!  I have enjoyed keeping this blog far more than I ever thought I would.  I have learned many new techniques and met some wonderful fellow knitters!

Bradyphenia at The Knotty Gnome posted a retrospective meme of her sweaters and how her opinions change, yarn has held up etc.  I thought… hmm, it’s been about a year since I started knitting sweaters (I think I made Rusted Root around this time last year) so it seems as good a time as any to join it!  Please note that you will not be seeing an appearance by the Hourglass sweater, which has the honor of being the only sweater I have knit this year that I won’t wear under any circumstances.

And I do wear my knits all the time, incessantly, even in hot weather (I was wearing the fitted knits shrug this morning in church!)  I do occasionally feel a little self conscious, but for the most part I am proud of everything I have made!

Top to Bottom:

Wicked: Wicked turned out to be a surprisingly flattering sweater.  I wore it all the time last winter.  Sadly, the Debbie Bliss Merino Aran yarn is not holding up well at all.  It is showing a distressing tendency to pill and fuzz, so a sweater stone may be in is future!

Dollar and a Half Cardigan – My most successful cardigan, I wear it all the time.  It isn’t really good as a summer cover-up because of the extra long sleeves, and it does need to be frequently blocked to avoid puffiness, but I love it!  The Cotton Fleece is wearing extremely well.  I’m not happy with my seaming (I hadn’t learned to do seaming in reverse stockinette) but no one would notice!

Josephine top: Love this sweater.  I have worn it lots, even though it is a fairly recent fo.  The Karabella vintage cotton is really wonderful, and I really can’t wait to use it again for another project!

My camera does not photograph green well!

Top to bottom:

Bedjacket: I have worn this a few times, but it is waiting for cooler weather.  I have gotten compliments every time, so I will ignore that I still don’t love my seaming job.  Still love cotton fleece here!

Rusted Root: My first sweater, it lay abandoned for months until I finally wove in all the ends and found that I love it! The Shine Sport is wearing pretty well, and it is so soft and lovely to wear!  The lower bind-off is a bit tight because I hadn’t learned about using bigger needles, but it is within tolerable limits.

Lorelei: I’m not as happy with this one.  I love the eyelet rows and the band of silk garden, but it has a distressing tendency to roll at all of its edges, despite a crocheted border.  And while knitting the bottom sideways was fun, it does tend to stretch horizontally.  I don’t think I would do that again.  I do wear this occasionally, but it is not a favorite.

1. Marilyn’s “Not so shrunken” cardigan – Silky wool is so light and wonderful!  This one came out a tiny bit big, but I still wear it all the time.  It wears well, and it goes well with my wardrobe.

2. Camisa – I have worn this constantly since it was finished.  It’s very flattering, and I’m really into the red color right now.  This one is going a bit fuzzy, unlike my other cotton fleece sweaters – maybe it is the color?  Or maybe that I am wearing it to death?  Yes, I think that’s it.

3. Blue Sky Fitted Tank – Second to the hourglass sweater in sweater failures.  I hate the yarn, and the sweater came out too big.  The neckline, in spite of many modifications, is still wonky.  I might wear it in a pinch, but I consider this one a “learning experience.” Ahem.

1.Shrug from Fitted knits: Love it and wear it all the time.  The yarn is fuzzy, but so what?  It’s so lovely and comfortable!

2. Drops designs cropped cardigan: I do not like this one.  I was trying a new way of seaming, and the seams are majorly bulky.  I also do not think cotton ease should be knitted to its advertised gauge (at least by me), because the stitches are strange and uneven.  I do like the color!

3.Fad Classic: This one sees a lot of use, mostly because it works in both winter (over a long sleeved tee) or in summer (as a tank/vest thing.)  It does stretch out after awhile, but as in Rusted Root the Shine Sport yarn is wearing extremely well.  I am much more impressed now than I was when I first made it!  The stitch pattern also seems to impress non-knitters.

Puff Sleeved Cardigan -  My button saga continues.  I recently tried snaps, but those aren’t working either.  I think I need button/snap lessons for my knits, as they consistently give me issues!  Other than that it’s lovely, but I still await a better way to wear it!

Ms. Marigold: The Classic Elite Classic Silk just gets softer over time.  I love this one, and I would make another sweater from this yarn (I have some in stash, awaiting a good project!)

Jess Jacket: Again, the Debbie Bliss merino is disappointing, although soft.  It really likes to stretch too!  I love this jacket, but I need to tack down the collar better.  If I could do it again, I might make the collar separately and sew it on.  It is difficult to wear because of the collar issue, and I would really like to wear it more often!

Cropped Cardigan: Unfortunately, I might be allergic to alpaca.  I didn’t notice while knitting it, but it took 3 days so I didn’t have that much time.  I tried this one on and started feeling stuffy… never a good sign.  The cardigan is lovely though!

80s sweater: Still love it!  The rayon yarn does stretch out a lot though, so I don’t wear it as much as I could.

Yes… that is a whole lot of sweaters.   They aren’t perfect, but I am happy with what I learned from each one.  I’m looking forward to many new projects in the next year of knitting!

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