The anniversary sweater. Finally finished. I’m pleased to have my first sweater done, but I was disappointed in a few things here and there (like my ghastly underarm seams, and the fact that I’ve decided that sweaters made with bulky yarn look a tad too homemade for my tastes).

Pattern: Little Turtle Knits Raglan in the Round, adult size L (pattern runs from infant to XXL)
Yarn: Knit Picks Sierra, in Lettuce. Pattern called for 1200 yards, I bought 1210 and had 330 leftover. Go figure.
Time: Knitting January 16 to February 17 (also started KO socks on February 10). Did the finishing (seams, weaving of ends) on March 2nd.
Lessons learned:
1 – I can trust my intution about some things. I discovered two fairly big mistakes in the pattern that I was able to correct myself with my own calculations. I also had problems with the sleeves ending up too long (don’t know if that was my fault or the pattern). I should’ve double-checked these against another sweater before joining them with the body.
2 – Bulky yarn may go faster, but the trade-off is that it does not look as polished, at least not in this particular sweater.
3 – I do not like seaming.
4 – Regardless of the pattern, always make the neck bigger. We are a bigheaded family, and this sweater barely fit over My Old Man’s head, or even mine. I definitely need to remember this when I get ready to knit a sweater for Little Buddha, whose head is already 20 inches (and no toddler pattern I know will have that measurement for a neck!).
5 – It is possible to knit an entire sweater in front of My Old Man without him ever wondering who it’s for. Until I have a meltdown and reveal all.