Lodge sweater, finished

This sweater has been patiently awaiting photos and a proper blog post with more details. The weather took a cooler turn (on some days, at least) this past week, and I wore it on the coziest 60-degree temperature weather walk with Cooper on one of my favorite local trails. It was an overcast day, and the perfect weather to get a few photos of what might be my coziest hand-knit sweater.

Most sweaters that I've knit previously have been rather fitted (by design), but this is the first that truly borders on sweatshirt cozy. I love the details: the mock neck, the split, ribbed hem, the marled yarn, the dropped shoulders. It's easy to wear and extremely comfortable, and hasn't itched me in the slightest. So far, I've worn it a few times with a short-sleeved tee underneath.

Most of the photos are self-timed, and some are selfies, since the best opportunity for photos was a weekday on a walk with my toddler, but I think they convey the gist of the sweater.

I absolutely love this yarn. It's very wooly and left my hands scented of lanolin when I worked with it (something I rather like). Blocking did little to change the shape of the sweater, but evened the stitches some. The pattern was clear, well-written, and clever. I've long been eyeing several of the designer's patterns, especially her garment patterns, as well. I tried various needle combinations, but eventually settled on stainless fixed Chiagoo circular needles, with twelve-inch circulars for the sleeves.

Details

For more details, see my ravelry project page

Yarn: Cestari Traditional Collection, 2-ply in "light grey medium grey tweed." I will note that it is a warmer, brown, but I believe that has to do with sheep color classification, rather than looking at the finished skein and naming it. Loved this yarn.

Size: Small

Pattern: Lodge sweater by Ozetta : Hailey Smedley

Needles: US 7, sized down one needle sizes to account for my loose tension gauge, per usual

Specifics/modifications: I did add nearly 2" in length to the body, since I have a long torso, and I'm glad I did. The length feels just right. I knit the sleeves on small circulars (12") and as a rule, my gauge is much tighter on small circulars. I misread the directions in regards to plain knitting before beginning sleeve decreases, so my sleeve stitch count is much higher than the pattern. That said, it was a "happy accident," or at any rate, gauge carelessness on my part that worked out. The sleeves fit close to the intended ease, and then I just modified the sleeve decreases right at the end to avoid too wide of a cuff. I wrote a little bit more about it on my ravelry page. I also knit the neck slightly shorter than the pattern called for, just because.