Ta-da!

I finished it!Then I put buttons on it!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have made my first sweater.

I finished up the second sleeve on Wednesday night. I then had a heck of a time picking up the stitches along the front edge to make the button band but finally got it going. Picking up the stitches was much easier on the second side, but I struggled a little with the button holes. I don't think the button holes are big enough as written in the pattern (it's just a yarn over) so I did a double yarn over. In hindsight, I should have done a button hole where you bind-off on one row and then cast-on in the next row. As it was, I ended up going back over the button holes with thread to reinforce them and get them to open up.

It took another day to weave in the ends. I think the KnitPicks yarn is particularly difficult to weave in well. It's too slippery/silky in texture so I found it unraveling in some spots. I'm already not very comfortable with weaving in ends - which direction(s) to go in, when to stop, where exactly to cut the yarn. But fortunately there weren't a ton of ends to deal with. Today I choose some small crystal blue buttons and got those sewn on. I think I could have aligned the buttons a little better, but I was so ready to be done.

The sweater is in the washing machine right now. I'll block it tonight while it's still wet. I'd really like to work on getting the bottom edge not to curl. Next time I do the pattern, I'll give the bottom edge another two rows in garter stitch. That should help build a stronger curl-barrier.

This sweater has been a fun and rewarding project. However, I'll be happy to see it out in the world and off my needles. I'm not quite sure where I'll go next... perhaps back to my other sock or maybe into the world of knitted fruit :-)