almost there

The finishing on my Millefiori cardigan has been painfully slow. There was lots of seaming, for one thing, especially since I elected to do the sleeves flat instead of in the round. Plus the button and buttonhole bands were worked vertically and sewn on to the fronts, so that made for some extra seaming. I haven't sewn on the buttons yet, so I'm not pronouncing it done quite yet.



Last night when I finally got the neckband done and button bands sewed up, I tried on the sweater. I dread that part of the process. What if something is wrong? What if the arms are too tight and the chest is too big and it balloons in the middle? Happily, the fit is perfect. Sadly, I think I somehow made the buttonhole band a little longer than the button band, so if the cardigan is open, it hangs lower on one side. If I fiddle with it and hold it shut (as if it were buttoned), it looks fine. But this sweater took forever and a day to complete, so I'm kind of mad that it isn't just perfect.

I'm not sure how that happened. I counted my rows painstakingly as I was knitting the body of the sweater so that everything would match up. But I didn't count the rows on the front bands, and that was probably a mistake. I sewed them on as I knitted, so I thought everything would be just dandy, but I think my imperfect seaming abilities are responsible for one being a little longer than the other. When you're doing mattress stitch on twisted rib with a selvedge, it's just hard to tell whether you're really doing it right. The yarn, Elsbeth Lavold Bambool, is really lovely and has a beautiful sheen and drape, but it's also a bit heavy, so any problem matching lengths is exaggerated by the drape of the yarn.

Gah. This is driving me just a little batty. I can't take it out and fix it. I just can't. Just thinking about it gives me a giant headache. I am going to sew on the buttons and hope it looks good when it's closed. If it doesn't...we won't even go there.This particular cardigan doesn't work worn open anyway - too floppy.

I think when I'm finally done with this sweater, I need to go back to some small, no-fail projects. Like socks.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Ah, you need to put on the buttons and see how it goes. You're right about the bamboo -- it will be floppy if left open, so button it up. Hopefully you can adjust how many are buttoned. And maybe, just maybe, the buttons will let that side droop a bit too to match...
kclblogs said…
it looks beautiful!!!
Anonymous said…
What a beautiful sweater! Great job, I bet you'll love it when it's done. I have looked at that pattern once or twice as well...
Anonymous said…
It's a beautiful pattern and a beautiful sweater.
It is one of the evil aspects about creating something yourself: you can do a million things right, but one little thing wrong can spoil (or at least mar) the whole thing. It might not be apparent to others, but you will know.
I guess that is not a very encouraging thing to say. It is, as you so very well know, daughter of mine, a very rare garment that I make in which I don't find some little imperfection that bugs me.
Mom

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