FO: The Seven Year Sweater

Now that Christmas has come and gone, it's safe to reveal my super secret holiday project. Sadly the title isn't an exaggeration - this sweater really has been seven years in the making! Shortly after getting married, I decided a man sweater was in order since the dreaded boyfriend sweater curse was lifted. I initially planned to take things slow with this sweater (although not quite seven years slow!) and I kept letting myself get distracted with other projects. The sweater sat forever with the body finished and the sleeves 80% done. I finally decided this was the year and got myself in gear to get it completely done.

The pattern is Retrofit by Jesse Loesburg. The pattern was well written and the sweater is a nice, classic style that is (thankfully!) still perfect for the mister even seven years later! I knit the size Large using Patons Classic Wool in grey mix and dark grey mix. Part of what derailed my progress for so long was running out of the lighter colored yarn (yet I somehow have four extra skeins of the dark grey - how does that even happen?). By the time I picked the sweater back up, Patons had pretty significantly changed the color. I was finally able to find a match from an Etsy seller with an older dye lot.

I love the hemmed bottom edge - even if it did take a billion hours to sew!

I did learn several new techniques with this sweater, including a tubular cast on and sewn bind off. I can't get over how smooth and professional that tubular cast on looks - so fancy! After watching about a dozen incredibly confusing YouTube videos for tubular bind offs, I ended up following this tutorial. The neck bind off came out looking great with plenty of stretch, and no PhD was required to follow the directions! I also learned how to sew in a zipper using this tutorial - something I'd like to avoid for the rest of my life! Hand stitching this puppy in took me much longer than expected and had me working well into the night trying to finish up in time to get it under the tree.

Mr. Plum was really excited to finally get his sweater, and I'm thankful to cross that project off the list once and for all! I'll admit to a crazy victory dance once that last end was woven in ;) I do have more sweater plans for 2015, but my plan is to keep them in 2015 - start AND finish!