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Sunday, May 13, 2007

Finished: Forecast

Pattern: Forecast by Stefanie Japel (winter '05 Knitty)
Yarn: Cascade 220 (100% wool), color 8339, approximately 4.5 skeins
Needles: US 8 (5.0 mm) and US 6 (4.0 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: April 13/May 10
Mods: a few; I'll get to them below

This sweater was a long time in the making. The yarn was purchased a year ago, but for some reason it lay dormant in the stash for months. The pattern that had so excited me when I first found it kept getting pushed down further and further in the project queue and the yarn got pushed deeper into the stash. Then I bought Fitted Knits and saw two sweaters I was dying to knit -- but I decided that I could not knit either one until I knit Forecast; it had been on hold much too long. I was also inspired by the other versions I saw appearing over on the knitalong blog, so I signed up and cast on.

I made a few modifications to the pattern, the most obvious of which was changing the cable panels. I did not care for the bobbles much, and I thought that the cable as charted in the pattern might look empty without them. I was uncertain about what to do until I saw Carrioke's finished Forecast, and I'll readily admit that I completely ripped off her idea of a braid cable. It perfectly fit the nine stitches used in the cable as written and it's always been among my favorite cables.

I also lengthened the body a bit and started the arm ribbing at the elbow, and I expanded the button bands to have three "stripes" of reverse stockinette to match the areas of reverse stockinette on the rest of the sweater.

The final touch that completed the sweater was the buttons. I spent quite a while in the button aisle at Jo-Ann's, but I think in the end I found the right ones:
So, after sitting on the yarn for a year, having a slight miscabling mishap requiring surgery, and having to sew some buttons on twice (due to my not marking the locations very well the first time around), the result is what J has proclaimed my Best Sweater Yet. I'm extremely pleased with how it turned out. It fits like a glove and matches so many things in my wardrobe. Most importantly, it's restored my faith in my ability to knit a garment (other than socks, of course) that actually fits!

I'm really quite sorry it's too warm to wear this and that I'll have to put it away until the fall!

12 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:05 PM

    Very nice! I really need to commit (spelling?) myself like you did. I've been wanting to make the Ribbi Cardi for so long, have the yarn, and like you, keep putting it off.

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  2. Anonymous9:26 PM

    Super sweater! It looks lovely. It is so great to see a project that the knitter is happy with and looks great.

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  3. What a great sweater. The color is just right and I love the modifications. It has made me think about knitting this one myself. I had been turned off by bobbles and the length.

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  4. It's really lovely and I like all of your modifications. The lack of bobbles really make it a completely different sweater...maybe I'll have to make 2!

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  5. your use of beautiful buttons really enhances the simplicity of the bobble-less cables. great choice of color too! :)

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  6. Great job! It looks very nice on you.

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  7. You did a fantastic job on this, I'm glad it came out so well! Love the buttons, they more than make up for the missing bobbles. I'm not a huge fan of bobbles either, I think it looks cleaner without them.

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  8. Anonymous11:13 PM

    Best sweater, yet.

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  9. Anonymous6:19 AM

    Absolutly GORGEOUS!!!! I am totally in awe, as always!!!

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  10. I love the buttons, love the cable, love the garter stitches, love the collar, I just plain LOVE it. Thanks for sharing. By the way, very very nice knitting, too.

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  11. Anonymous11:00 AM

    Newbie lurker here. I like your version of it much better. Great job! :)

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  12. Wow!

    Soooo beautiful!

    (I'm with you... I'm not a bobble person)

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