I call this knitted hoody Grape Crush, which might be odd since it’s mostly green.  But the purple trim reminds me of Grape Crush so that’s the title.

You can see the progress of this cardigan here and here.

This sweater knitted up fast.  If I’d put all my concentration on it I probably could’ve easily finished it in a week.  As it was, it took about two weeks from swatch to blocking.

I learned a few things from this project.  First, I really like Sweater Wizard.  There were only a couple of directions that were a little confusing and all of the numbers came out right.  That was a relief–I was afraid I’d find myself mid-sweater with a mess on my hands because the program’s calculations were off.

The second thing I learned was that knitting a sweater in the round rocks!  There was hardly any seaming at all to be done (just the underarms and the top of the hood).

The third thing I learned is that I was right about the raglan sleeves being more flattering on me.  If I’m smart, I will only knit raglan sleeve garments for myself in the future.

Besides the yarn, which is yummy, the thing I like best about this sweater are the buttons.  While I was in Oregon in December, I raided my grandmother’s vintage button stash (um, hello, how much fun was that) and found all sorts of cool and kitschy buttons.  The buttons I used are just plastic, but they glimmer and catch the light almost like rhinestones (which would’ve been overkill in a project like this).  So I get some sparkle, but not so much that it’s inappropriate on such a casual garment.

I will say that the finished piece is a bit more oversized than I had anticipated–but this actually happened during blocking.  I’m not sad about it though because it’s a very comfy sweater.  I kind of wish it had pockets though.

Finally, some success at knitting a sweater.  This one I will wear all winter, I’m sure.