It's Done! It's Done!

Diagonal Rib is done.

And just in time too, as today is the first wild and windy late fall day. Perfect wool sweater weather.

In true blogger fashion, here are the specs -- the deets -- the mods.

Pattern: Lopi # 82273 - Diagonal rib Cardigan
Yarn: Alaphoss Lopi. 6 balls exactly for the sweater. A bit of the 7th for the button bands. I purchased the yarn at the KW Knitters Fair on sale for $4 per ball. My first 'nod to the economic crisis' sweater.
Mods: None whatsoever. I knit the 40 inch size exactly as written. (I know. Who the heck am I and what did I do with Brenda.)
My Opinion: This pattern is not for the beginner knitter. It was a classic example of eliminating instructions in order to squish the pattern onto a one page format. The diagonal rib section is 19 pattern rows. 17 of them are spelled out stitch by stitch. But at row 18, instructions ended. That dreaded " Work as established...." . You would think that after 17 rows, it would be committed to memory. But this pattern eluded me completely. With decreases, slants and twisted stitches travelling in opposite directions all happening at once, I had to engage the brain. Especially for the right front. The instructions there said " Work as for left front, reversing patterns and shaping". Ha! Much easier written than done. And twisting those stitches in chunky yarn was murder on the wrists.
Fit: With the first try on, I thought the sweater was too small. The sleeves are only eight and a half inches across the top. Which was what I liked about the sweater. No big floppy sleeves. But I forgot about my big floppy arms. The sweater has now had a nice Eucalan bath and after this blocking hopefully it will be a comfy fit.
Conclusions: I love the colour. Much like the Birch trees in my back yard, don't you think?

I love the rib detail. At the neck

and at the bottom.

Oops!. what happened to that colour?

I love the woolly coziness of it. And it's done!



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