FO!

Mom's Printed Silk Cardigan is finally finished. It's been presented and photographed and here's the evidence?



I am really happy with how it turned out. It looks better in person than it looks in the picture, not that it looks terrible in the picture. It just needed to be adjusted slightly in the shoulders and the ribbing needed to be tugged down an inch or so. It does fit, it just needed some adjustment. But Mom hates pictures and was trying to run away, so I had to take the picture quickly.

Anyway, she's really happy with it. I'm pretty proud of it, and I think it looks really good on her. The style is very flattering to her body, and Mom looks good in that deep orange color. She also happens to love that color, so that works out well.

And there's another thing that makes this sweater kind of special. When I was in the preliminary planning phase of this project, I enlisted my stepdad's help with some reconnaissance, basically. I checked her bra size to make sure I was correct about her measurements. Together, we also measured the bra strap from hook to loop, just for additional peace of mind about how big her underbust area is. And then, I found a similarly-shaped shirt in her closet that I knew fit her very well, and we measured that.

So in a way, it was a joint effort. He didn't help with the actual knitting, but he contributed what he could to the sweater. Considering the circumstances, that makes the sweater just that much more special for Mom. And for me. He always helped me arrange surprises and gifts for Mom. This was our last "covert operation" together. I'd intended to get his opinion on the buttons and stuff, too, but by the time I got to that point, he was too far gone. I don't doubt that he'd approve, though.

The sweater got put on hold several times, and I had a few setbacks, but I'm happy with the overall project.

Here's a recap of the pertinent facts:
Pattern: Printed Silk Cardigan from Interweave Knits, Spring 2008, 34" size
Yarn: Knitpicks Shine Sport in Terra Cotta (purchased 15 skeins and used a little less than 10)
Needles: Knitpicks size 3 24" circulars
Buttons: Five JHB-brand 5/8" buttons made of coconut, purchased at Hancock Fabric in Owensboro, KY
Mods: Adjusted stitch and row count to compensate for gauge differences, customized length to compensate for body differences (and my own mistakes) and worked the sleeves in stockinette with a 3-row ribbed border to match the bottom hem of the sweater body. Also didn't do a sewn bind-off because I wanted something a little firmer and quicker to work. The neckline's big enough that the neckline ribbing doesn't need to stretch that much, anyway. So I chose a bind-off that better matches my cable cast-on. I ended up knitting 2 tog tbl, then placing the new stitch back on the left needle (after twisting, to keep it from being stretched out) and repeating the process across the rest of the row.

I definitely plan to knit another one of these. This time, though, it'll be for me. I'm thinking Shine Sport in Harbor, but I haven't decided for sure yet.

I also need to figure out what to do with the ~5.25 balls of leftover Shine from this project.