A long time coming

I know that you didn't think this would ever happen.

Heck, I didn't think it would ever happen.

But it did. I finished my Beatnik- just in time for 100 degree weather! Don't I have great timing?



Joking aside, because frankly, I doubt it's going to reach sweater weather anytime, well, ever at this rate, I'm so proud of myself.

I wrote earlier about how this was my first attempt at dying yarn. The yarn was Lionbrand Fisherman's Wool in the Oatmeal colorway, but attacked with Kool Aid. I was aiming for more of an orange, but I love, love, love this color- I even have a bunch of lipstick and nail polish that match!The yarn definitely isn't on my list of favorites- much too scratchy for that. However, it was super on sale, on a billion yards without knots. I was rather impressed. I wound up soaking the sweater with some conditioner, and while I still won't be wearing it without an undershirt (I'm wondering about the practicality of the sleeves), it did manage to soften considerably.



The pattern itself was somewhat easy to understand, though it did take me quite a while to figure out the instructions for the front, and then when I finished, I couldn't figure out which side was the front anyways. It looks the same either way, so whatever. The charts really enforced that, well, I hate charts. It's not that I dislike charts themselves, or find them difficult to understand, I just prefer projects that I can take and not pay attention to. Again, the who autopilot knitting thing. It's not so bad when I've got nothing going on (like this summer), but normally, the only time I have to knit is when I need my eyes and majority of my attention for something else: hense the autopilot knitting. 



Once I saw just how pretty the cables were though, and I tried on the finished sweater, I instantly forgot about how annoying it was to have limited time to work on it. I believe I ran through the house showing everyone, and shouting "HOLY SHIT I KNIT A SWEATER. ISN'T IT AWESOME?!" I also quite a bit of yarn leftover, so I'm thinking about making fingerless mitts or a hat if I have enough yarn. Who knows. That won't happen for a while at any rate- my eyes need a break from the retina searing color.

(Seriously, isn't it awesome?)

I was afraid of seaming it up, because I have issues with mattress stitch (it's a hit or a miss if I do it right, don't ask me why), but the moss stitch hides any seaming issues wonderfully. I wound up knitting the sleeves in the round because seaming that was just not going to happen. It did make joining them to the body a smidge more difficult, but all in all, not too bad.

In total, I love this sweater! It does look like it gives me a bit of a stomach pooch (okay, I know, I already had that pooch), but I don't careeee. Sorry for the blurry photo by the way- apparently I was too hideous for my camera to take a proper photo.