Silk Garden Sweater Finished

Warning to everyone: lots of pictures in this post. Advance apologies to those with slow Internet connections. I hope the pictures are worth the wait!

Well, here she is! This is the Scoop Neck Cardigan from Debbie Bliss Noro#1 done in Noro Silk Garden #71 -- trimmed and finished. The crochet edging makes a big deal in this sweater -- it adds lots of structural integrity to the overall garment, but it does have to be blocked again to make everything lay flat.

In spite of the 1.5 mm crochet hook that I used to put all the edging on, I am very pleased with it. I pretty much abhor buttonholes -- but didn't mind creating them this way at all. If you do the edging, follow Bliss' instructions closely when it comes to stitch spacing in the first row of crochet. If you don't you'll get too many stitches and the edging will flare out.

Here's some up close pictures of the edging, from the right side of the sweater:

And from the wrong side:

And here's a couple of those button holes that I like so much:

And in case you wanted a better look, here's a close up of one of the buttons (run your mouse over the image to see a little secret about how I attached the buttons -- I'm still not sure if the size or the button is exactly what I want, so this helps keep them attached without making them permanent.):

And here's me in the sweater. I know the white shirt doesn't really make the best background, but I don't have a thin enough black shirt right at the moment. I'm trying to do my best combination smile with heroin chic here.

Here's the back:

I know the neck line looks a little uneven -- but it isn't really, it's just the angle John took the picture from. And here's a shot of how I will probably be wearing the sweater most of the time -- John says this is my "biker chick" look:

This is obviously a tight, fitted little sweater. It's supposed to be a 34 and it's exactly that. If you want to do this project and don't like skin tight, move it up a size. I had no problems dealing with this pattern -- the instructions were clear and easy to follow. I did modify the sleeves a bit to make the decreases symmetrical, but even if you didn't it wouldn't make a radical difference in the look of the sweater. The set-in sleeves are probably the hardest part of the assembly, but now that I've done a few sweaters with that kind of sleeve, it didn't seem so bad. The yardage estimates were good. I definitely needed all seven recommended skeins, but I had enough of the last one left that I never got worried about having enough yarn to finish the project

What I really enjoyed about this sweater was the crochet edging. At first I thought that the call for a 1.5 mm crochet hook must have been a mistake, but it worked fine and definitely helped make the edging nice and tight. This sweater made me think a lot more about the possibilites of crochet (hence the book purchase from my last post), especially for button bands.

Right now the sweater is a little stiff looking from all the blocking. I think I am going to need to wear it a few times before it softens up and looks a little more natural.

I'm still not settled on the buttons... the edges of the buttons don't play nice with the button holes (they get caught on the edges too easily), and I think if they were 1/16" wider in diameter they would sit better (I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but they rotate in a lot and don't sit as flat as I would like them to.

One thing I really like when I knit is to learn new things. This pattern is a great chance to try a few new skills out: crochet edgings, short row shaping, and cast on rows in the middle of the fabric. I can't wait for it to get cool enough for me to actually wear this sweater for real.

If you want to see another version of this sweater, check out Elisabeth's version in her post for today. She did her lovely version in the colorway I almost picked!