I finished the sweater for Mom last night – yay! Now all I need to do is weave in ends, sew on buttons, take pictures, box it up, and get it in the mail to her.
Both the pattern (February Lady) and the yarn (Dream in Color Classy, in the Good Luck Jade colorway) were a pleasure to knit. The buttons were a bit of a saga, though. I went looking here first, and found some light wood buttons that were OK, but not exciting. They were also cheap, so I bought them and went looking on Etsy for something better. There I found a small collection of vintage buttons, some in leather and some wood toggles, so I bought those and decided I liked the toggles best. Then in the yarn store I visited in Penrith, one day when the races had been called off due to wind, I saw some that were gorgeous: they look like medium brown wood and have a swirly design etched in. So I will be using those, and will have a bunch of buttons left over for future projects. (I still need to make something using the dichroic glass ones I bought in Tempe, too.)
I find that sweaters are very definite about the buttons they want. Today I’m wearing this sweater, and I still love the handmade pewter buttons I bought for it (Etsy).
Now back to working on my Laeticia socks, or possibly a hat for Mom with the leftover yarn. The other thing I want to finish before the holidays is a hat for Ted with a Tvåändsstickning brim, attempting to re-engineer one we saw in Stockholm. But he’s got a trip in a couple of weeks – just a short one, but then it’s just a hat so I’ll try to finish that while he’s gone.