Ha. All last week and this week I kept thinking the 12th of December was Wednesday (yesterday). It’s my wedding anniversary. I was knitting like a madwoman, and then Matt pointed out on Monday night that the 12th was Thursday and I had a whole day to spare! That was a nice relief, but I still worked as fast as I could to get it done. I was ready.  

I had it half seamed yesterday morning and Matt really wanted to wear it, so I worked as fast as I could to get the seams finished and ends woven in before he left for school. It wasn’t blocked, so I confiscated it later in the day to give it a bath, but it still looked good enough to let him leave the house in it. It was also lacking buttons, but I finished that later. Voila!hugo-5

Behold, Hugo. I used Cascade 220 in Mallard and it took about 6.35 skeins, 1396 yards. WEBS was not able to match the dyelot when I had to order the 7th skein, but the dyes were so close that I couldn’t tell a bit of difference. There was no need to stripe at all! I love that.  I hope I’m not boring the hell out of you all by using the same yarns over and over, but I’m a girl on a budget and these yarns fit that budget.hugo-2-2

I cast on an amount for the body and sleeves exactly in-between the two smaller sizes to get a finished product closer to a 40″ chest. Matt doesn’t like as much ease as the second smallest size, and the smallest would have had negative ease. This worked out pretty well. The extra stitches were in the moss stitch, so it was very little adjustment.hugo-3

I added about an inch in length to the front and the back. I left the sleeve length as written. When it came to decreasing and increasing on the pieces, I ended up making those more like the 41.75″ size more often. I didn’t take super specific notes at each step along the way, but my Ravelry project page has a little more specificity. I made buttonholes instead of purchasing snaps because I like the way they look, and I was snowed in for nearly a week and didn’t read the pattern closely enough to realize I’d need snaps! Ha. The buttons work well.

Set-in sleeves are quickly becoming my favorite, and I’m also starting to love finishing on sweaters. It’s a slower end process, but sometimes that’s nice. It’s like when you race to finish a really, really good book that was long and lovely to read. When it’s over, you’re a little sad. The finishing process of seaming and blocking a sweater helps you let go more slowly, and treasure your hard work for a few more minutes.hugo-4

I know I’ve posted this before, but this video really helped me to understand how to seam set-in sleeves. Now I cut a super long length of yarn and after I seam one side of the shoulder, that extra yarn becomes the yarn that seams either the side of the body or the sleeve seam. I’m all about having less ends to weave in.

Matt loves it, I love it. I consider it a fine 1st anniversary gift.

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