my first sweater.

With another small flare up of lymphangitis this week, my on-the-road project morphed into an on-the-couch project. While I would have rather been finishing patchwork or binding a quilt, using the hook was the only thing my fragile arm felt comfortable with. My overwhelming need to create coupled with my sore arm led to finished my first cabled sweater.  The pattern from Agnes Russell is available at FreePatterns and FreeCrochet.

Although I've been crocheting for a while, this is my first garment where gauge makes a difference. Since I didn't have a specific recipient in mind though, I forged ahead gauge free. One day, I'll find a small girl that this first perfectly.  It will be for her. There were a lot of firsts on this project. This is my first sweater. This is my first time with crochet cables. This was my first bit of serious ribbing and it was my first time using knitting-in elastic.  Given all that, I'm happy with the results. It's made a very wearable sweater with a few flaws here and there.

I thought I'd take a minute to mention knitting-in elastic since it was new to me. When the pattern called for elastic sewing thread, I assumed it meant shirring thread. I asked around and others thought the same. The elastic is intended to keep the ribbing around the hood from stretching out of shape. Luckily Cath came to my rescue on Instagram showing me the difference between knitting-in elastic and shirring elastic. There's quite a difference in size and thickness, so I want to share the link to the photo in case others have the same confusion. A new skein of clear knitting-in elastic is $8.79 at Lincraft. The same thread is also packaged as pyjama cord (labelled knitting-in elastic on the back).  On a fluke I found the correct obscure pink color of cord in a clearance bin for just seven cents. Since I'd never used it before and wasn't sure when I'd need it again, I went the seven cent route.  Knitting-in elastic is easy to work with, but doesn't frog as well as yarn. So I have a few errors in the ribbing of my hood because it was too tricky for me to frog them and fix them. I was a bit confused if I was supposed to pull the elastic taut as I paired it with the yarn or not, so I'm not entirely sure if I got the step correctly.  Hopefully it does the trick and keeps the hood from stretching.

All in all, I'm quite happy with how the sweater turned out. I've left some notes on Ravelry for myself in case I make it again. I'll use less buttons next time and I'll change the sleeves just slightly.  If you are a looking for a project to step up your crochet, I'd give a thumbs up to the hooded cable sweater. There's no need to be nervous. If you can do front post and back post double crochet, then you can definitely tackle cables.

With that under my belt, I'm looking for another crochet project for my upcoming flight to Seattle. Any suggestions?