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!