FO: Purple Pullover

Hooray! My purple pullover (photo, left) is finished!! I used Classic Elite's "Premiere," in color #5295 ("eggplant"), which is 50/50 pima cotton/tencel...the perfect Summer-weight...and I cannot say enough good things about this yarn. It's so soft, a joy to knit with, was so easy on my hands, and has great stitch definition. I love, love, love it!!!

I used an Oat Couture pattern called Metro Pullover, but I guess I'll have to call mine "Mostly Metro Pullover," as I made a few changes. No, really. First of all, I used a DK-weight yarn, which swatched to a gauge of 5.25 stitches per inch (the pattern was for either a worsted or a chunky/aran weight). I tried to increase my needle size, but the swatch looked so much better with the yarn-band-suggested US6. Get out the calculator...looks like I need to do some math. Next, I changed the "false button-band" up the front that the pattern called for to a lovely cable pattern (see photo to right) that I'd seen in a Knit 'n Style magazine. Then, I figured out how to "split" the cable and continue past the V-neck and up underneath the collar. Of course, since it was a Summer sweater and yarn, I decided to go with short sleeves instead of long. Then, based on personal perference, I changed the rib from a 1x1 to a 2x1. Because I already have a set of droopy shoulders, I changed the drop-shoulder sleeves to a modified set-in (as suggested by Connie at Knit and Caboodle, where I got both the yarn and the pattern)...and after I discovered that the pattern called for knitting the sleeves by picking up the stitches from the shoulder/arm-holes, rather than by knitting separate pieces, I decided to join them and knit 'em in the round. But, hey, other than that...I pretty much followed the pattern...:)

You might wonder why I even bothered buying the pattern in the first place? Well, I love Oat Couture patterns...they are so thoughtfully thorough in their directions, they design patterns that look great on most people, and they have a wide ranges of sizes. And, unlike the majority of designs, I find that many of their patterns "fit" the mental pictures I have of sweaters I want to knit...and wear. But, the main reason I don't just wing it is, I find that I do better when I take a previously-designed pattern and tweak it...just a bit.

I think I'll wear my new pullover to the airport tomorrow when we go to pick up Missy M, who is coming for a weekend visit...an even bigger HOORAY!

In other "news," it's still raining. I emptied the rain gauge on Saturday...it read between 1 3/4 and 2 inches of rain. Today, it looks like another 2 inches have accumulated since then. No matter...the iris are still blooming. The photo to the left is of the beautiful yellow and white variety that is blooming in the front, next to the white garden bench, under the Japanese maple. I can see them from my office window. Also, I got a few things in the ground between deluges on Wednesday: some bean and carrot seeds, some onion sets, and a lot of marigold and zinnia seeds (saved from last year's "crop"). This should be a really interesting year for the garden...