Natural Beauty Fair Isle

Natural Beauty Fair Isle
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Here's Matt modeling his finished sweater. He decided not to wear it to work today, even tho' it's going to be in the mid-90's and muggy. So I'm not sure if he likes it.

I'm kind of "eh" about it myself. I don't think it's very flattering on him personally. Even with the fixed neckline, it seems sloppy in the shoulders and the arms are huge. However, the fair isle section fits nicely. I think the design of the fair isle (not very stretchy) combined with the garter rib of the body (very stretchy) may not have been a great combo.

However, he's very very happy with it (even if he's not wearing it today), and that's all that matters. So let's do the project stats:

Pattern: Natural Beauty Fair Isle from Family Circle Easy Knitting, Fall 1999
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool
Problems with the pattern: well, the directions seemed to be accurate. The sleeve increases happend very quickly, and I think that's part of the reason the sleeves seem so big. I would've spread the increases out a little more if I were to do it again.
Changes to the pattern: I didn't do it as a V neck (per Matt's request) and I knit the body and sleeves in the round until I divided for the sleeves.
Overall Impressions: The colors are lovely and I do like it. As I said, for Matt I do think the shoulders and sleeves are too big (ie: a little sloppy looking). This project took me 8 years to do. I bought the yarn when the magazine came out and I started it then. Matt was a wee bit heavier in those days, so I had started it at the 53" finished size... ya, well I didn't even have to frog the first one and still had enough yarn to make the smallest size. I think Matt will get a lot of wear out of it, and the Patons yarn was quite nice to work with and I love the way it washed up. So we'll give it a B+. While there are some things I don't like about it, overall I do think it was a successful project.

Next on the list? As of right now, I'm sort of floating from project to project, typical of me after I finish a big project. I'm still working away on my self designed crochet lace shawl. Matt also needs a cardigan, so I'm working on a cardigan I had started for him a while ago. Plus playing with some things that are just sitting here. Eventually something will come into focus...