Last week I got the chance to sit down and finish up my buttercup (sorry, it's a ravelry link). Can I tell you how much I love this sweater? I've knit myself quite a few sweaters, but I don't think any have turned out as well as this. Not only does it look nice, but I feel completely comfortable wearing it, which tends to be a problem with things I make for myself.
I did modify the pattern quite a bit. The pattern is written to have short puff sleeves and a loose a-line shape. I know that shape would look horrible on me, so I changed it to suit my body. I based the shape off a sweater I got from Target a few years back. It was an elbow length v-neck with wide ribbing at the sleeves and waist. That sweater was always a little too short for me, but I liked the general idea. The buttercup provided me the perfect opportunity to make a new version with a twist - it was the neckline of buttercup that caught my eye.
I cast on as written, but then realized that the pattern had gathers at the back neck, which I didn't necessarily want. At that point I didn't feel like going back, so I left them in. To be honest, I am terrible at making notes of the mods I do to my knitting, so I'm recounting this from memory. In the end, I kind of like the back gathers, so that was a happy accident.
To counteract the a-line shape, I added waist shaping, then knit to my desired length. What resulted was a sweater with shaping, but not too fitted or clingy - just perfect. I did try this on many times during the process to get the right fit. I was afraid that my neckline was too large, but adding additional rows of garter stitching (I think I did 7-8 total) and picking up less stitches than called for along the neck helped pull it in. I couldn't be more thrilled with the result.
The yarn is Callista from elann, a linen/rayon/cotton blend. It is so soft and drapey and quite comfortable to wear. Unfortunately, this yarn is discontinued, which is a bummer because I'd love to make more things with it.
Of course, I shouldn't cast anything new on. I have 3 tops in the works right now, all from last year - I'm determined to finish them before summer is out! With that in mind, there will be more knitting posts in the near future. Like I've said before, I always have knitting with me :)
