Finished!!! Or: Femke goes trendy, all thanks to knitting

Yesterday, I made myself sew the buttons on the drops cardigan. I wore it today and made my dad take some pictures this morning. I will try to get some daylight pictures this weekend, because these are really awful.

I think my yarn substitution was successful. I swatched with the Lana Grossa Royal Tweed I wanted to use. My gauge was 13.5 sts and 21.5 rows per 10 cm, which was in between both gauges from the pattern. So I calculated how many stitches I would like to have at the bust and looked for the size in the pattern that came closest to that number. This turned out to be size XL from the bulky version of the pattern. I knew I would have to compensate for the row gauge, but that only mattered for the sleeve caps.

Even though I compensated for row gauge on the sleeve caps, I still had some trouble getting them to fit right. I think the armhole should have been a little less long, about 2 cm I think. Or the sleeve caps should be taller. I just winged it and I have a little extra fabric under my armpit which no-one will notice.

The other trouble I had with finishing was that the yarn does not lend itself to sewing seams. There is no twist in the yarn, so even a little tug causes it to break. I used embroidery thread instead. I think this was also a good thing, because it really reduced the bulk in the seam.

When I tried this on during seaming I was very underwhelmed. I mean, it fit alright, but I didn't really like it. But now that I added the collar, it's great. It really makes the cardigan. That's also what my dad said when I showed it to him: "that's a nice collar".

Overall, I am very happy with this. I have to get used to the style. This is the first swingy cardigan I own. I think I'd never have followed this trend if it had not been for knitting. I think, in general, knitting makes me much more aware of the current fashion. Which is kinda cool, because I tend not to pay attention to it, out of sheer laziness of course.

So, what to knit next? I feel kind of lost without a sweater project... I have yarn for several projects, but there is nothing I really WANT TO KNIT NOW!!!!