Another WIP Done! The Mixed Up Venus V Cardigan

I started this cardigan back in May. I started going through the stash, picking yarn colors and textures that I thought might work well together in (roughly) the same guage.  I worked on it off and on during the summer, even knitting a bit on my lunch hour in vendoland. I made some progress as you can see here. Thennnn... I kind of let it go for a bit as summer got in the way. I finally finished all the pieces. This is the first sweater where I knitted the back, front and two sleeves, and then stitched them together. Had to learn mattress stitch, which works quite well. Had to learn how to set in the sleeves. The first one is less than perfect, but I decided that I wasn't the kind of knitter who rips stuff out if it isn't spot on. The second one is better, taking a page from my sewing days, and finessed and eased until it was done.

I really like this basic sweater pattern. It's boxy and comfortable and very cozy. But the thing is, it has a big design flaw in that it is stockinette stitch on the front edges and around the neck, which means it curls naturally, and that was driving me crazy. I looked at examples of the sweater on Ravelry (all 2 of them), and they both had added ribbing to the front and neck to finish the edges. So I did the same, with the same color yarn that I used for the cuffs and the bottom. Added buttonholes using Elizabeth Zimmermann's 3 row method, and that was just what the sweater needed. I blocked it and it turned out just the way I wanted.

Voila:



and voila: