I finished my Buttercup late last night 🙂
Yes, that’s right – it’s my twelfth ‘sweater’ for the year, complete.
Can anyone say “finished the challenge with two-and-a-half-months-to-spare-without-breaking-a-sweat?”
If you are saying “Challenge? What challenge?” then I should explain: in late December last year I signed up for a group on Ravelry called NaKniSweMoDo09 : National Knit a Sweater a Month Dedecathlon 2009. It had a simple aim: to knit 12 sweaters during 2009. Maybe once that’s done, to write a sentence without using a colon (:) . Sweater here being agreed as a lose definition for any adult sized top with openings for the arms, therefore including everything from shrugs and short sleeved tops through to hoodies and giant men’s jerseys. You could knit one a month, or knit them faster or slower.
First I went off to a racing start and had four garments complete by early March. I continued but started to fit other projects in. Lately I’ve been hankering after sock knitting more and more, but still have wanted to complete the challenge for both completion’s sake, as well as because I really like knitted sweaters too.
So, back to Buttercup. Here she is.
I started this right after I finished my Central Park Hoodie last month, and chosing the project was a kind of elimation exercise. I bought a stack of yarn in January and due to my self-imposed yarn buying ban, so I could only shop from my dwindling stash. I had to choose something for Spring, as the weather was unseasonably warm (haha, how things change!) and I was thinking of something different to my previous knits – I was thinking tunic style. So, after much time on Ravelry I decided on Buttercup, a free pattern released this year. And I settled on some Down to Earth Soy/Cotton yarn that I had cought for $2 a ball back in January. I had 11 balls and no way of getting any more. I also have another 10 balls of this in Navy. It’s supposedly 10 ply but seems quite thin – and I got gauge on 4mm needles. I have a little over a ball left, so that worked out perfectly – and yes, that makes this top $20 total!
This was my first time working with a Soy/Cotton blend, and it certainly was easy on the hands, unlike cotton. I did like to change between knitting this and socks, but that’s probably because I am fickle.
The pattern is a top-down, knit in one piece – yay, no seaming this time. It gives you some ideas about how to tighten the neckline, and I am glad I did – just a couple of extra rows, plus I picked up two out of every three stitches to bring the neckline up a bit.
That said, it is a rather large fit – I’d be happier with it being about 4 inches slimmer around the chest than it is – perhaps it’s a hard road finding the perfect tunic pattern. I think it definitely needs to have something underneath it, be it a singlet or long sleeved top for winter. I didn’t block it as such – I chucked it in the washing machine on warm (dye ran!) and then into the dryer as it looked huge! And then I put it on for photos. I think the feather and fan pattern looks remarkably nice for such treatment. And, well, I was kind of hoping it might shrink some with that treatment. But, alas not.
I think this sweater will earn its keep over the summer months, and while I like the pattern, I would definitely go a size smaller (or two?) next time.
So, now that the challenge is complete, I don’t *have* to knit any more sweaters this year. However, I do have plans for several more, so keep watching this space.
Shortly Stitches 