Finished: Knitted Owl Sweater

So I may have found a new location to take pictures of my makes. I dragged the boyfriend out there and the conversation went like this:

Me: I want to be in the picture with the sign.
Bf: Yeah, we have time for whatever you want.
Me: Are you getting the sign?
Bf: Why are you doing so many hero poses?

What? You mean you HAVEN'T heard of my new movie coming out this fall?!

The boyfriend came up with the name and it's pretty awful, but then it kind of stuck since I'm terrible at naming things.

So yeah, I finished my owl sweater. If you recall, I almost finished it before ripping everything out and starting over. I'm really glad I started over. It's much thicker since I held the yarn double and I don't have to worry about wearing something underneath it anymore.

It fits perfectly and the pattern is written so well. I had zero problems reading it (which is the first time I have ever said that about a knitting pattern!) and it knits up so fast. Knitting this the second time took 2.5 weeks to finish.

I didn't even struggle when it came time to join in all the sleeves with the front and back to create the yolk or when I was learning how to do short rows (which are really easy btw).

I will say that the pattern called for a stretchy bind off and everyone on Ravelry said it was unnecessary so I was all cool, I'm doing a normal bind off then. Big mistake. It's pretty tight. I do think a stretchy bind off is the way to go.

Additionally, I'm not sewing buttons onto the sweater. I can tell that they're owls without them. I looked at all 6,919 projects on Ravelry and decided that, while fun and nice, the buttons didn't necessarily add anything to the finished sweater.

Also, I had just woven in 40 or so loose ends (don't ask) and I was done with the hand sewing for awhile.

You can see my back decreases pretty clearly and I'm so proud of how neat everything looks. I wanted to show you my armpits where I used a kitchener's stitch to seam it together, but the boyfriend felt it was unnecessary to take pictures of that. But really, everything about this is so nice!

This is also the first time I've ever paid for a knitting pattern, and I swear, if they're all like this, I will start throwing money at people. No more free patterns for me that no one bothered to proof read or even check to make sure the cable direction is going the right way.

Also, perhaps a bit unfortunately, because this was so easy and quick, the boyfriend now thinks knitting is easy and is compiling a list of things I need to make for him... Eek!

Oh, and in case you're wondering, my terribly wrinkled blue skirt that I'm wearing is the first thing I ever made with a sewing machine!