Sweater for ME!

After Christmas I was very motivated to knit something for me. Actually, it's been a long time coming. I've been wanting to make a sweater for me since last spring. The sweater I originally had in mind would require considerable amount of designing on my part and I find that I'm not very particular to design work. I want to have everything figured out for me and just follow a pattern (although I'm not adverse to deviate from the pattern if it makes sense or if I prefer a different method than the designer suggests).

Before Christmas I knit a scarf for my one daughter and mittens for my other (plus countless of candle holders, but that's fodder for another blog post). After Christmas I was so ready to make something for myself. What I picked was the sweater Hraði from the Einband book. Einband is lace weight Icelandic wool, and hraði means speed. The reason the pattern is called hraði is because you knit with 6 mm needles (about US 10), so this should be a fast knit. Well, I started the sweater the day after Christmas and only finished it this week so you'll be the judge of the speed.

I got the yarn for this sweater a looooonnnnnggggg time ago, or about 4 years ago,when we were in Iceland.

Wednesday I finished the casting off and finishing (weaving in ends, close the armhole) and yesterday (Thursday) I washed it and blocked. This morning (Friday) I put it on to go to work. I had be be at work early today because I had a training course, but I asked my husband to take a quick picture.

I wore it all day and loved it. I have to wear a tank top underneath because the fabric is see-through, but that's ok. The sweater is very light and airy and not too scratchy. It kept me very comfortably warm.

I have couple of issues with the sweater. For the first, they ask you to cast on with the yarn held double. I'm fairly sure it is because of wear and tear, but I think it makes the fabric curl up even more. There is no ribbing but the fabric is not supposed to curl up on the edges, but it does. This doesn't happen with the neck opening, where I forgot to bind of with the thread held double (even if I got the other end of the skein all ready to do so).

The other issue is that the sweater got really wide at the bottom. I think it is due to the eyelet holes in it. But I'm not sure. Maybe I can block it into shape? (pun intended). You can't see this in the photos but I think both these problems got worse as the day went on and I wore it longer.

If you have any suggestions for me for these two issues please let me know and leave a comment.

I have to say though that overall I'm very happy with the project and love the sweater itself, the colors and the fit.