February Lady Sweater!

  Pattern: February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne at    http://www.flintknits.com/blog/
  Needles: 4.5mm, 32" circular needle and 4.5mm DPN's
 Size: 41" bust (I'm a curvy squirrel)
  Yarn: Robin Aran with wool in Salmon Pink.

 I decided to knit this sweater for a couple of reasons
* Pattern is gorgeous and I had to have one
* I had the time and patience to make one (I usually only knit scarves, shawls, mittens, etc.)
* And finally, I don't really have a sweater that I can wear on a chilly summers evening, hence the short sleeves (we do get a lot of cold weather in the North).
What I love about this pattern:  You knit it from the top down (my first and certainly not the last).  The pattern is very easy to follow, and you do the lace after the garter stitch yolk instead of the other way round (i.e. working from the bottom up).  I was bad though as I didn't do a gauge swatch and kind of just winged it. Could have been very disastrous. I think that's why I liked knitting this pattern so much, as I could see where I was going, I could stop and try the item on to get an idea if I was on the correct track and guess what, I was, (first time for everything) no frogging, amazing!

I then had 2 dilemmas- sleeves or no sleeves and what buttons to choose.  I really couldn't decide so left the pattern for a couple of days and searched photos from other knitters February Sweaters to see what I liked best. I decided on no sleeves as you can see.  The buttons were a different matter.  My poor sweater sat for about a week buttonless and in no hope of ever being finished. :(  (I won't just put any button on a garment it has to be just right.  I have a thing about buttons.)
                                                                         

I finally decided on these from www.thenaturaldyestudio.com/ they are wooden Daisy Painted buttons 30mm. Some of the Daisy Petals are the same colour as the yarn (told you the buttons have to be just right).  All in all, I love the colour of the yarn but not sure if I would use it again.  I found it very sore going and drying on the hands. However, the shape is beautiful, I love the drape, and it is very cosy and to top it all of I have had quite a few admiring glances while wearing it.  The postie even commented on the buttons (and he's a man) result.