Henley Perfected

I had extremely high hopes for this pattern and confess that I am a tad disappointed. Not that there was anything wrong with the pattern itself, I just don't think I will be wearing the finished product very often.The pattern itself was not as difficult as it looks, I promise. If you understand the basic properties of lace and you can count, you can do this pattern. The hardest part was adjusting the number of yarnovers to suit the armhole decreases and really, that just required a little concentration, not rocket science. If I'd done a couple of things differently, this would be a really great sweater.
I think my biggest problem is that I knit it in a size too big. I don't like sweaters that hang off me like this one does, but after the Venezia fiasco, I am a little shy about knitting smaller sizes. What I should have done is modified the pattern myself and knit something between the two smallest sizes, but I was so excited to get started on the pattern right away.

The lace came out pretty, though, didn't it?

My other problem was my choice of yarn. Although I really like the pink color, bamboo yarn sure is soft and lustrous and I had naively thought it was better for the environment than synthetic materials. Unfortunately, it's manufactured in the same way as rayon and has about the same amount of memory. From what I understand, it's soft and shiny, but doesn't hold its shape well, sagging over time--not the best option for a sweater. So in addition to knitting in a too-large size, the yarn is bound to sag. What I should have done is chosen the yarn suggested in the pattern, or at least one similar to it and been more careful about the size I chose to knit. Lesson learned.

Next post will feature the Baroness Beret, once I have a picture of me wearing it, that is.

Etsy news: I now have 5.5 products finished and once I have 8, I'll start working on setting up a storefron. Once I have 10, I'll put them up for sale. Good progress, I think!