Another item off the list

I started my Something Red (and Yellow) back in March, just before I left for New Mexico with Sarah.

I finished fixing the button band bind off this past Sunday afternoon (with Bella's help, of course!). Approximately eight months of needle time later, I have my first actual sweater (I'm not counting the shrug, cause that's how I roll).

Details:
Something Red, by Wendy Bernard (Knit and Tonic)
Yarn: Paton's Classic Wool Merino, red, 3.4 skeins; Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, yellow, .5 skein
Needles: Size 5, size 7, size 9 (bindoff only)
Time: 8 months

Thoughts/Mods: I now know that when it seems like the armholes are going to be too big, I should stop knitting them. I did my first cutting on this project. The sleeves were incredibly wide, so I tried the sweater on, pinned the sleeves where I wanted them, sewed them together realllly well, and cut the excess chunks off. It's not the neatest surgery ever, and there's still a little lumpiness under the arms, but it's vastly improved, and a lesson learned.

Also, I've learned that I should probably use the line under my bust as the measurement to knit for, rather than actual bust. The few garments that I've made so far seem to be on the big side, so I'm going to try this new rule of thumb as a guideline.

I only did one increase round during the ribbing, as it seemed to be large enough without more.

My button band isn't perfect, and I had to undo the bind off, as it was super tight and bunchy (that's a technical term!). When I redid the bind off, I used a size 9 needle, which loosened it incredibly. It looks much better now.

I really like the raglan sweater model. It's very intuitive, and the beginning develops really quickly. Typically, I'm not a fan of much ribbing, so I don't know if I would ever make this again.

I only did about one inch of ribbing on the sleeves.

I'm happy this is complete, and I learned so much from Something Red (and Yellow).