I'm glad I kept knitting

My sweater is done! The pattern I used is Twisted Rib Cardigan which I found in the Knit Simple Holiday 2008 magazine. One thing I found with the pattern was the arms are really long, even taking into account the cuffs are meant to be folded back. This presented a challenge for me as I knit both arms at the same time, which meant I had them completed and one of them sewn on before realizing I wasn't going to be able to make the length work for me. Since I used stripes instead of one solid color, it was interesting to take out the top portion of each sleeve, adjust the increases so it would seam properly, and still shorten them at least a couple of inches. It worked, but I wish I had done it before I began working on the sleeves.

One of the tricks I used in knitting this sweater was to use wool that would felt. This kept the project in my comfort level, as if I ended up with something too large (which has happened every time I've tried to knit a sweater previously), I could felt it a bit. Well, it turns out I had sized it pretty well. As a result, I had another dilemma. I wanted to at least felt the garment a little bit so all those ends would be a bit more secure. Throwing all caution to the wind, I headed to the washing machine. Since the water was warm and not hot, and I was too chicken to put in more than the teensiest bit of soap, not much felting happened. So, I opted for the dryer option, no heat. And once it was merely damp, I discovered it had stretched a bit. It all turned out wonderful in the end because I put it back in the dryer, this time with some heat. Checking it  every minute, it shrunk up to a fit I was happy with, and I laid it flat to dry the rest of the way.

Another benefit of felting was how much more I liked the seams after it was done. The front, in particular, went from being adequate to being really nice. The results most likely would have been similar if I had blocked the project, but felting was so much less labor intensive.