Pictures of Gwen

I have finally finished all of Gwen's fine tuning. My Gwen was made with 6 balls of Rowan Big Wool in Gingersnap (39). I also substituted the yarn for the collar and used about 3/4 of one ball of Rowan Biggy Print in Cookie (243). The pattern came from Rowan Big Picture. Since I used a solid color for the main sweater, I thought the contrasting collar would add a bit of interest to the sweater. I am really happy with how it came out. The sweater fits nicely and is really a perfect use of Big Wool in Southern California - because it is so open, it never gets overly hot. My only complaint is that the large gauge lets a lot of air through the arms when the wind blows.

The knitting itself was actually done some time ago and really only took the equivalent of a long weekend. It was the fastener that took the extra bit of time. The pattern calls for ties to be attached at the bust line.

And since I am "smarter than the designer", I thought it would be way cuter to have the tie lower. What I didn't realize at the time (a statement that tends to go hand-in-hand with design modifications I make to things), was that the tie was up this high for a reason - with it lower, the whole sweater falls off your shoulders because of the heavy collar. Of course I didn't realize that until I had already attached and finished the ties. So, I had to take them back off. But because I had already cut the tails, I didn't have enough tail left to anchor the ties back onto the sweater properly. It was about this time that I thought a toggle button would be a great modification. And I know what your thinking - she tried to make another modification? But, I swear this was a modification I wanted to make because I thought it was more "me" - not solely because it didn't require me to make any more crochet chain ties ;-).

However, when I attached the toggle to the edge the first time, the toggle left a gap of about an inch between the two front sides, which just looked stupid. So, off the toggle came and I moved both the toggle and the loop closure farther into the sweater away from the edge. But, again with the gap! The stockinette was just rolling in on itself. After consulting with Knitzalot, I added a hook and eye just at the sweater's edge to actually secure the sweater closed, then the toggle gets fastened over it for decoration. It works great and upon first glance you would never know the little hook and eye are in there.

Overall, I give this pattern a thumbs up. It was a quick knit, but almost too quick for the price of the yarn. I got all the yarn on sale, but it was still a chunk of change, so I was glad it was a birthday gift since I didn't get my normal cost-to-entertainment hours worth out of it.