Finished: Amelia

I've been putting off posting about finishing Amelia because I wanted to take some better pictures of it on me, but haven't done it yet and the perfect being the enemy of the good and all, figured I'm better off with mediocre pictures than none at all.

Finished, pre-blocking:
This is maybe the best idea I've ever had: when washing a sweater, pin along all of the seams to keep them aligned. It makes blocking it afterward a doddle.

I love working with industrial yarns, by which I mean yarn that was designed to be knit by machine rather than by hand. It's more durable and I think creates a nicer fabric than most of the hand-knitting yarns on the market. And because it's usually either waxed or oiled to slide through machinery more easily, there's a very satisfying transformation when it's washed and all of the gunk comes out. This yarn is comprised of six or eight sewing-thread-weight strands of cashmere/silk held together that initially didn't feel like anything special. But after washing and beating it up a little, it's really amazing. Like the fur on a kitten's throat.

I don't know if you can really tell from the photo, but all of the buttons are different. I was about to write that I dug deep into my button jar to find them all, but that would be a lie, though a charming and harmless one. I don't even have a button jar; I keep my vintage buttons reasonably organized by color and size via a system of dime bags and ziplocs. (I don't keep a stash of new buttons, those I buy as I need them.) So it was actually no trouble at all to open the box I keep notions in, find the bag of black buttons around this size within the freezer bag that holds all of the dime bags and pull out 11 different ones.

In conclusion, I love this sweater. It's exactly the kind of knitwear that I will wear to death: a classic shape with interesting details. I love the neckline. I'm happy with the fit. I adore the yarn. I'm pretty sure I made this exactly as written, other than adding buttonholes all the way down. Thanks to Laura for a(nother) fantastic pattern!