For the past month, I’ve been furiously working on a sweater for my roommate as a gift for her thesis defense (today!) and PhD graduation. I finally finished the sweater early this week and, after showing it off at knit night, I gave it to her! I finished the entire sweater in one month and one day. Also it is my very first sweater ever. I’m super proud of it, and I think she really likes it. I really want to make one for myself.

I used the Sonation pattern by Mari Chiba in the 51.75” bust size. The pattern is designed for at least 10” of positive ease, so I went with the larger of the two sizes I was deciding between to get a really floppy, comfy piece. I think I could actually have gone with the smaller 48” bust size without making much of a difference in fit – but I would have had one fewer lace repeat! Curses!

I used Madelinetosh Twist Light yarn in colorways Void and Rocky Mountain High (2 skeins each). The sweater is bottom up, and I switched from Rocky Mountain High to Void after I ran out of Rocky Mountain High yarn, and then I used Void for the sleeves as well. I really love the bright variegated colors of Rocky Mountain High, but I thought an entire sweater made of it was too much, so I chose a dark, more sophisticated color for the top. And I love how the contrast turned out. The pattern calls for fingering weight yarn, which the Tosh Twist Light is, but I still had to go to a US size 2 needle to get gauge (I am a very loose knitter). I also chose to mattress stitch the shoulder seams instead of doing a 3-needle bind off because a friend of mine advised me that it is more stable in the long run.

I was sort of worried in starting this project that the lace would kill me, but it honestly wasn’t that bad for the majority of the sweater. At the armholes, the front and back are separated and worked flat for a bit, and that was definitely more annoying than the rest of the sweater, which is worked in the round. I like the effect of the lace – it ‘s not too open but has enough texture to be interesting.

Finishing this sweater in time for my roommate graduating did require me to suspend work on my other projects, so I still haven’t finished my May or June block-a-month squares, and I haven’t touched the Poison Oak sweater I’m making for myself. I did finish a hat, which I’ll post about soon! I’m hoping this summer I’ll have lots of time to catch up on everything! I have a lot of cast on ideas as well… so we’ll see what happens there. What are you all knitting/crocheting this summer?