Snuggly squishy cuddly and warm

Oh my gosh, I knitted a jumper!

And it’s got really long sleeves.

With cute scallop colourwork where the rib joins onto the main sleeve.

Oh, and there’s scallop colourwork where the rib joins the body, too.

Yay!!! 🙂

This here jumper – it was actually the second “proper” (i.e. not a plain scarf or peggy square) project I started. I cast it on as soon as I finished my grey Miette cardi, waaaaaaay back at the end of 2013/start of 2014.

(Yeah, that’s right. A good year and a half ago.)

I was making good progress on it, and then I found out I was pregnant.

And you know what? Cropped, fitted jumpers don’t fit so well over a baby bump.

So it got put on hold, and I made a few cardigans instead. Far more practical for pregnancy and nursing, after all!

But then a couple of months ago, winter came along. It was cold (and I am not a fan of the cold). So I picked this jumper up again.

Having to go to Masterton and back on the train for work a couple of times gave me a couple of good, solid knitting sessions. So progress was made! (Finally!)

And now, it’s all done! Yay!

And it’s super warm and soft and snuggly. With lovely long sleeves that keep my wrists warm. Win!

The pattern is “A Cropped Sweater for Winter” by Andi Satterlund. (It’s a free pattern, by the way. Go get it!) It’s a nice and simple pattern, knit in the round as hers tend to be. It’s got a semi-square neckline, and cute scallop colourwork details with contrast bands. Very easy to knit, and in 10 ply yarn so pretty quick too. (Even if that “pretty quick” knit took me a good year and a half!)

As is more-or-less inevitable (since I just can’t leave well enough along and have to mess with things every time), I made a couple of changes. Nothing major, though – just length alterations for the sleeves. The sweater is meant to have 3/4 length sleeves but, well, I live in Wellington. It gets cold here. Long sleeves are far more snuggly in winter.

(Plus, I’m tall. RTW things with long sleeves end up as 3/4 length sleeves on me. At times, I overcompensate for this when making things. Extra length! Yeah!!)

So I added 60 rows of knit to the end of the sleeve, before I started the cuff. And then I added an extra 10 rows of rib, too. (And with that extra 70 rows in total, they’re actually only just long enough. Hmmmm.)

The yarn is Cleckheaton Country Aran 10ply, purchased from Spotlight (horror of horrors! But yes, I actually found some lovely, gorgeous, pure wool yarn amongst their cheap acrylics!!). The body of the jumper is in colourway 4013 (Dark grey) and the contrast is colourway 4009 (Teal).

(I learnt a lot about how to read labels on balls of yarn while buying this, from a lovely lady who was also browing the yarn selection. She knew lots about knitting, which was awesome as I knew pretty much nothing at that point in time, and she was very happy to share her knowledge! She taught me how to check dye lots as well, to make sure I didn’t run the risk of any colour variations. Thanks, wonderful stranger at Spotlight! Aren’t fellow crafty people awesome?!?)

Changes I’d make next time would be adding yet another 5 rows to the sleeves (so a total of 75 extra rows, instead of the 70 I did here), and adding an inch and a half to the body as it’s just a smidgeon too short. (And next time, I’ll learn to do the super stretchy bind-off, as it’s a little tight getting it on and off over my shoulders – whoops!)

Anyways, I’m really happy with this jumper. Sure, it’s not perfect, but it’s snuggly and goes well with things in my wardrobe, and it’ll keep me warm.

Yay, knitting! 😀

My lovely sister snapped some photos up at Truby King Gardens, where we went to get pics of the final two samples of the Sophie cardi. Gotta love that winter sunlight through pine trees….