Yesterday we had our first snowfall of the year and I finished a brand new winter sweater!

Perfect timing!

Pattern: Notre Dame de Grace by Veronik Avery from the Summer 07 Interweave Knits. I thought this was a really well written and well thought out pattern. I just love all the little details, especially the collar!

Yarn: Cascade Lana D’Oro (50% wool/50% alpaca). I got this yarn really cheap at a sale at my LYS. I wasn’t sure what it would do because it was a bit thin and scratchy but the color was so perfect and the price was right so I went for it. As I suspected the nature of the yarn changed quite a bit once blocked. This yarn grew a little bit (mostly lengthwise) when I blocked it the first time. After I finished all the seaming I had to re-block and I dried the sweater for about 10-15 minutes in the dryer on low heat. This helped the yarn shrink back to normal (pre-blocking) measurements and helped the yarn bloom into its full splendor. Post re-blocking the yarn is super soft and cushy. I would definitely use this yarn again for a sweater.

This sweater seemed to take a very long time. But it didn’t really, it just seemed that way. I blame the seams… and the double seed stitch.

Modifications: I added some subtle waist shaping so that it wouldn’t be too boxy but I thought too much shaping would look weird. If I were to go back I would not knit the sleeves so long. I thought about cutting them and making them shorter but now that I have worn the sweater I kind of like the look of them cuffed I am lazy so I will probably leave them alone.

This collar is what attracted me to this design in the first place. I lurv it!

Thoughts: I really enjoyed this pattern even though the finishing took forever. I estimate that I spent about 8 hours to get all the sewing to a tolerable level (and the sleeve caps won’t hold up to much scrutiny). Guess I need more practice.

I do think this sweater came out a bit too big overall but I sort of planned it that way. I knit the 36″ size for my 35″ bust because it was the smallest size but also because I wanted a big warm cozy winter sweater.

I love this sweater and plan to never take it off.