Reason number #56 why I love knitting

Seriously cute sweater, crappy pics.  My photographer (brother) was busy.

You know how it is, it's not that you have nothing to wear it's just that there's this one hole in your wardrobe that needs filling.  That one piece that would make a third of your closet more wearable. The great advantage to knitting (and sewing) is not having to chose just from what can be bought.  If the style, size, or color I have in mind isn't there I can just make it myself.  And while I would never say that knitting saves money I will say it is quite possible that the sweaters I can afford to knit are nicer than the ones I can afford to buy. 

What is up with the color in this image?  All other pics are closer to the true color of this yarn.

So, anyway, my wardrobe hole just happens to be small shrug/bolero type sweaters that can be tossed on for added warmth and interest.  Preferably in a color that goes with most of my wardrobe.  This wool/alpaca blend yarn started life as a cape. But after months of just hanging on Myrna the cape remained unfinished.  One day I finally realized it was time to move on and reclaimed the yarn.  I'm very glad I did.  Not that I won't make a cape some day, just not in this yarn.

Myrna, modeling the ill fated cape.

I did search my patterns for something just right but I have relatively few patterns that were even close to what I had in mind.  Ultimately I ended up casting on and making notes along the way.  I knit cuff to cuff so all I really had to do was mirror things for the second half: decrease as many times as I increased, cast on the same number of stitches I bound off, etc . . .  If this were a pattern I think a beginner could manage it.  Increase, decrease, knit, purl, cast on, and bind off were really the only skills needed. Ravelry link

Myrna, kindly modeling the back of the much better received sweater.

The resulting sweater fills the hole perfectly and has gotten lots of wear - unfortunately it is still too warm to wear it most days.  That aside, I predict lots of future use and it really does go with most of my wardrobe.  And I definitely want to play around more with this method of construction. 

I really do love this sweater.  Even if my expression looks a little off.