The First One

I actually finished knitting my Estelle cardigan about... umm... a month ago?... At least three weeks ago. But it took forever for me to finally block it. And then it took a while for me to find buttons (I sewed on three sets of buttons before I was satisfied). And then Logan was out of town for a while... so there was no one I could ask to take photos of me wearing the sweater who I didn't think would laugh at me nerding around in a hand-knit sweater in the middle of August....

Well, here it is, my first cardigan. And I like it.... I don't think I love it, but I do like it.

The suggested yarn for the pattern is Araucania Nature Wool and it just happened to be on sale on yarn.com so I bought it (I got the all the yarn for this sweater for less than $30). And the yarn was okay for the most part but the first skein, used for the yoke of the cardigan, pooled like crazy and there are these big chunks of color that distract from the lace. And I know I should have "alternated skeins to avoid pooling" but well... I just didn't want to. So I didn't. And I guess I paid the price.

I was looking on Ravelry yesterday and seeing a lot of Estelles knit in lighter shades of yarn in solid colors and the lace seems to stand out a lot more. If I were to knit this one again I would do that. I'd knit it in a solid yarn in a lighter shade. Maybe in a cotton blend next spring... with short sleeves... hmm...

One more little issue I have is that the armpits feel low. You might notice that in these photos that my arms look a little short? That's why. Oh well.

I would still recommend this pattern. I really would.

I think a more experienced knitter would have chosen a better yarn, and measured herself, and knit a better sweater. But this was definitely a learning experience. And, who knows, I might surprise myself and end up wearing it a lot... I'll let you know.