Blocked!

So, I finally got around to blocking and sewing buttons on my February Lady Sweater last week. You know, the one that I bound off at the end of February?

I took about 6500 pictures of myself in the mirror and this is the only one that is even moderately decent; sorry about that. I guess I'll need an assistant to help me get a better picture at some point.

Anyway, I have a love-hate thing going on with this sweater. I absolutely love the pattern & design. It looks beautiful. I love the color I chose, the little flecks of wine and moss in it really bring out the brown. (It's Peace Fleece in Ancient Fern.) The buttons, which you can't see very well here, are gorgeous sawed branch buttons that I got on Etsy. They are black locust and extraordinarily beautiful.

But it's really too big (even though I knit a size smaller -- with a little bit of negative ease, in fact -- than I thought I would need. I guess I should have gone down two sizes. Hmm.) It is huge and poochy across the back. It really and truly is a bad fit. The sleeves are too long and this accentuates the bell-like quality of a straight sleeve, which I don't like. I should have done 2 or three fewer repeats of the lace on them. (I think I did 19 or 20 repeats on the sleeves.) Also, the Peace Fleece, once blocked, is a lot fuzzier than when knitting up, and I think the fuzzy quality distracts from the lace pattern. I also think the fact that it's kind of a heavier worsted yarn makes it too bulky for this pattern.

I'm disappointed that I spent a lot of time knitting something that I probably won't wear very much, if at all. I knit it in the Peace Fleece hoping it would be a nice warm sweater for me in our colder months but the size is just such a problem.

I actually think I may try to knit this sweater again, believe it or not. I learned a lot while knitting it and I still really love the pattern. I would choose a lighter-weight, smoother yarn, and knit it down another size, with shorter sleeves. I know I could just put this one away and try a different knit for myself. It may be a year or two before I do this pattern again.

But I really would like to have a successful February Lady. So, we'll see.

I do have to say that my lack of success in sizing this has me a little bit nervous about knitting for myself in the future -- determining a size, or doing math to change patterns so they fit better. It's all a little frustrating and nerve-wracking. I told my mom that maybe I'll just stick to knitting for my kids, because by the time you invest the time in knitting something for an adult, it's so frustrating when it doesn't fit.

Anyway, I'm starting to think about autumn knits for my children already (I have to knit those in secret so it takes most of the summer), so it'll be a while yet before I decide what (and whether) to knit for myself again. I have plenty of time to work it out!