I knit myself a sweater!

This is the first adult sweater I've ever made, and it not only fits -- I think it looks really good, if I do say so myself! The pattern is the Beaded Top (no. 1) from the Spring/Summer 2005 issue of Vogue Knitting, for which a correction is posted here... although I bravely forged ahead and knit the neckline all by myself before the correction was published. I used just over 3 skeins of Lily Elite Cotton in Moss, on which I got a great deal at the Spinrite Factory Outlet's semi-annual sale in February, and a 4 mm circular needle, which I think makes a nicer fabric than the 4.5 mm needle suggested by the yarn's ball band. (Note: The colour in the photo is closer to what it really looks like than the thumbnail in the Yarndex link.) The yarn doesn't meet gauge for the pattern, so I had to do some math to get it to work, which I found surprisingly fun to do, and easier than I thought. I made a number of other modifications to the pattern: I knit it in the round between the side vents and the armholes (next time, I'll remember to subtract four stitches to account for what the seam would have used), joined the shoulders in a three-needle bind-off, and used a two-stitch seed border at the armholes (instead of a one-stitch border).

As you can see, I changed the embellishment around the neckline somewhat to suit my tastes and the materials I had at hand: glass seed beads instead of sequins, craft thread instead of embroidery ribbon, paua shell buttons from Courage my Love instead of rhinestones -- see, I had been planning to use this yarn in a cardigan originally so I bought these funky buttons... I figured, heck, why not use 'em anyway?!