Just Keep Knitting, Just Keep Knitting

Sometimes a project comes together like magic.

And sometimes you deliberately knit a sweater two sizes too small because your gauge is too large, all in the hopes that it will turn out the right size.

And you finish the body of a sweater...

Only to discover that making it too small was a mistake.  It fits.  But only for the next three minutes or so.  As soon as she grows she will outgrow this sweater.

Time to frog and try again.

In the mean time let's all admire The Queen in a sweater I knit her last summer and then forgot I knit it so it sat on a shelf in my closet all winter.

You can see how happy she is to be modeling for me.

The ukulele helped improve her mood.

As did rolling around on the couch so I couldn't take a clear shot of the sweater.

Even bribing her with a snack could only do so much.  She stopped moving for a moment so the pictures are in focus, but the sweater is still obscured.

I did manage to snag this shot which shows one of my favorite details about this sweater, the ribbing was picked up on the wrong side of the fabric so there was a visible seam around the neck/armhole/bottom of sweater.  Stitches were bound off and slipped strategically to create a very pretty edging, like a perfect crochet chain.

Pattern:  Berenice

Yarn:  No brand acrylic I recycled from a store bought sweater I frogged.  And my goodness is this sweater soft and squishy and perfect.  I wish I had a million more yards of this.

Needles:  Eh, the pattern calls for a 4, 3, and 2.5.  That sounds about right.

Modifications:  Because of this construction this sweater is super duper hard to modify.  I probably tried to add length to the torso, as is standard for the Queen's sweaters, but the arm increases for the batwing shaping made that hard to time. 

Review:  I really loved this pattern.  It was complex, and parts were hard to understand.  It wasn't a pattern for beginners.  But if you paid attention and followed the instructions the results were really gorgeous.

Look at all those different textures.  The reverse stockinette, the cables, the lace.  There's even a tiny itty bitty bit of ribbing in the corner.  I love everything about this sweater.  It is a tad big for the Queen but I'm not mad about that.  That just means she can wear it that much longer.

And because my life isn't chaotic enough, this happened.

Say "Hello" to Loki.