The Finished Sweater

My first hand-knit sweater is complete and has already been worn several times. Unfortunately, by the time it was finished and ready for photos, a busy travel weekend and Daylight Saving Time conspired to make it difficult to get photos of it in any sort of natural light. But this past weekend was unseasonably warm and presented me with the best possible scenario to get some quick pictures.

As for the rumors of Dream in Color Classy growing when exposed to water - they're definitely true! When I laid the sweater out to dry while it was damp it had grown almost 4" in length, even after a short time in the dryer on a very low setting. But the Classy seems to have amazing memory and having worn it a few times it has sprung back closer to the original knit length.

Now I was counting on the crazy growth everyone was warning about after the first wash, and in hindsight I probably shouldn't have counted on it quite so much. I probably should have knit the body slightly longer, but it’s very stretchy and it's been very comfortable to wear and surprisingly warm for a cardi.

And fortunately the extra material that bunched near the armpits before the first wash has smoothed out considerably. It's still there, but it's much softer and not as noticeable and obviously hasn't kept me from wearing it. Whew!

So there it is - I've knit an entire sweater for myself! It's not perfect (the sleeve decreases I added are too obvious to me, but not as noticeable when it's being worn), but it didn't take as long as I thought it might and there's definitely something rewarding about getting to wear it. My first attempt didn't kill me so I might become a sweater knitter after all.