FO: Ivy

Sorry for the crappy photo - my photographer is on an expedition with the kidlets

(boy do I need to clean the bathroom mirror!)

Pattern: Ivy by Glenna C.
Yarn: Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool, color 23, just over 7 skeins
Needles: US size 3
Started/finished: Jan 2007/Feb 2008
Comments/mods: First off, I love this sweater. And I am beyond thrilled to finally have it finished. I started this when I was still pregnant with Boo, and it was going to be my celebratory no-longer-pregnant sweater for this winter. Hopefully, there will still be a few chilly mornings so I can justify wearing it a few times before it gets put away for the summer.

I knit this according to the pattern, but in retrospect there are some changes I would have made. I'm not a big seaming fan, and I think I would have knit this in the round. The only complication is the hole for the waist ties. It would be easy enough to knit in a hole as you were going and continue in the round. The other thing I would have done, and which I highly recommend for anyone contemplating this sweater, is to write out the waist and neck shaping for the fronts line by line. There's a lot of shaping going on, and every time I put this down, I spent a lot of time trying to count the number of neckline decreases I'd done to try and remember where I was in the pattern. I'd also take some time to figure out how to knit the neckband and attach it to the neckline without seaming, just to get rid of that one extra step.

I love this yarn - it's nice to work with, with a fairly soft hand (particularly when knitted up), but has a little bit of crunch from the silk that makes the twisted stitches stand out nicely. I wet blocked the pieces before seaming, and the fabric evened out nicely.

I'm glad it's done, if only to get one project off the plate. Now, given that it's a balmy 70 degrees out, it's time for some summer sweaters.