It moss be

To be or moss to be...

I did it! A sweater! With sleeves and everything! Whoo hoo!

I actually finished this a week and a half ago, it's just been too effing hot to even think about putting on a wooly sweater. It's still to effing hot, but my anal-retentive desire to cross the write-up off my to-do list overrode the hellacious heat. (Note: that's why these pics are going to be kinda sucky, too. Forgive me.)

Nothin' to it
This is just your basic top-down raglan cardigan, pretty simple really! To get the cast-on number, I measured the collar of one of my jackets, then multiplied it by my gauge. I hemmed and hawed but decided to go with a double moss rather than ribbing, as it lays nice, flat, and even and doesn't really need to be blocked.

A few notable details:

• Instead of picking up stitches for the front band, I simply added the double moss border to the edge stitches of each row. Saves a crap ton of time and hassle at the end!
• I really dig working top down! You can try it on as you go, judge exactly where to separate for the sleeves, make it whatever length you like - it seriously rocks my world. It also allowed me to use up as much yarn as possible (which believe me, I did).
  
• This was the first time I did M1s by lifting the stitch below. I really like how it turned out - it's not an invisible increase, but has nice detail and leaves no holes.
• I knitted the sleeves in the round using the 2-circ method. It was sooo much easier doing it with dpns (like I would knit them flat - ha! right, no seams for me thankyouverymuch).

Gratuitous half-butt shot.

Speaking of sleeves, I left a nice long tail at the beginning of each one to sew up the pit hole afterwards. This worked much better than lifting a stitch or loop at the opening. Trying to do that invariably left a gap somewhere else. Sewing up a few stitches afterwards was much more tidy and took no time at all.

I didn't do any shaping, since this was my first "real" sweater and I didn't want to screw it up. (And it's Malabrigo, so you don't want to frog too much lest you felt.) It's a nice fit without being fitted, and should be nice and snuggly once fall hits. That being said, next time I make this (and there will SO be a next time), I'll probably add some waist shaping or darts to sex it up a bit.

The arms are a teeeny bit big, but that works for me because the whole sweater sausage thing isn't really my best look. Plus, this definitely requires a shirt underneath, and the roomy arms will allow for that while helping to prevent tee bunching. (Is it me, or does that sound dirty?)

Buttonloop, squee!

All buttoned up
I had a few funky buttons picked out at first, but this basic pearly white one ended up looking the best (just goes to show - when you hear hoofbeats, don't automatically assume it's zebras...or whatever that saying is).

Also, big thanks to the pictorial tutorial (why do I suddenly think of Mary Poppins when I say that?) on buttonloops from My Fashionable Life, which was a huge help. If you haven't done one of these yet, try it, even on some scrap yarn. Because it is so. damn. cool!

Mmmmmmalabrigo
It's Malabrigo. Need I say more?

Okay, maybe one thing more. I used three skeins and literally have just a few bitty scraps left over. I even had to spit splice a few inches on one sleeve to finish the bindoff.

Okay, maybe two things more. The three skeins had some color differences between them. The old me would've just said, eh, screw it. The older, wiser me actually had the forethought to alternate rows at the beginning of each new skein so it would have more of a graduated effect. A little more fussy, but well worth the effort.

That's a wrap
I love this cardi! It was so much fun to see my first real sweater come together - and on purpose, too! The simple, top-down raglan construction made it a relatively quick knit and the Malabrigo makes it oh-so-soft and snuggly. Hey Fall, wouldja get here already? I wanna wear my Maximoss - and not with shorts!

Maximoss
Pattern: weezawinged
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Verde Esperanza (3 skeins)
Needles: H&S rosewood in size 7, 31" (+ Addi Turbos in size 7, 24" for the two-circ sleeves)