This week, Fibre Friday feels particularly celebratory. I’ve finally finished a sweater that has been on my needles for three years – Bute, from Rowan magazine #52. This sweater is a fair isle cardigan, and I actually knitted it in the specified yarns and specified colours. ( I know. That never happens. Stop and take a breath. It’s going to be all right.)

Here’s a detail shot of the back in progress:Lots of colour changes in this one, and LOTS of ends to sew in. I’m glad that I wove or sewed them in as I went.

It turned out to be a beast of a knit, because I didn’t realize the sizing was unisex – or at least, I didn’t understand the implications of that. I knit, frogged and reknit this sweater so many times that it still makes my teeth hurt. In the end, I (a person likes a 42″ width for a comfy cardigan) ended up knitting an extra-small.

Yes, you read that right. XS. And yes, I knit the back in the M width and frogged it, then I knit the back in the S width and frogged it, because my mind simply could not wrap around the notion of me being an XS, even when I read the finished size measurements. There you go. (What are all the teeny people doing with this pattern?)

In the end, though, I love it. I did shorten the sleeves, and it did get longer when it was blocked, but it’s a great cardigan and I know I’ll wear it a lot.

I’m also glad to get my needles back!

I did make one mistake on my final knit – I switched out one of the greens without meaning to do so. The green band with the beige squares should use the more olive green, but I used the solid dark green by mistake. Once I had started that way, though, I finished it that way. That means I have more of the olive one left over.

Here it is:This cardigan is presented in two colourways, and I bought the yarn to knit the blue one for Mr. Math. It is, however, entirely possible that I will knit it for myself, now that I know what size to make.

Before it was blocked, this sweater wanted to be corrugated, because of the alternating bands of stockinette and reverse stockinette. I was amazed by how much that relaxed in the blocking, and how much longer the sweater became. It really has a lovely fit.

My Ravelry project page is here.

What do you think?