FO: Puff-Sleeved Cardigan

Presenting the puff-sleeved cardigan:

(click for bigger)

It's actually been finished for awhile, but I needed to block it and get buttons. I ended up ordering the buttons from earthenware studios and had to wait for them to make them and ship them. I blocked it and sewed the buttons on a couple of days after I got back from the beach.

All in all, I really like the way it turned out. It's kind of a departure from my usual style in color and shape, so I'm not sure how much wear I'll get out of it, but I love it anyway. I'm considering making a long-sleeved version for a winter jacket.

It was really fun to knit, as well. I've been in kind of a funk lately, with plenty of The Weirdness, and I'm finding myself more drawn to plain stockinette and ribbing than crazy textures and cables, so most of it was good mindless knitting. I also learned a lot about shaping, which was cool. What's especially great about this peice are the details. I really like the collar and buttons! And the puffed sleeves! And the peplum!

See what I mean? Ok, less rambling and more gory knitting details.
Yarn - about 7 skeins of Vermont Organic Fiber Co. O-Wool Balance (50% organic wool, 50% organic cotton, 130 yards) in Amethyst. This is really nice yarn with a lovely tweedy texture. I also like that it's half cotton, which makes a short-sleeved cardigan much more wearable than an all-wool one.
Needles - 29" Inox size 6 circulars. The pattern calls for smaller needles too, but I ended up not needing them.
Pattern - Puff-Sleeved Feminine Cardigan from Fitted Knits. I really like this pattern (again, all the little details!) and it's really what made me buy the book. The rest of the book is awesome too, and I've already cast on for a second project from it. But, as with any pattern, there were modifications:

• The biggest mod I made was reworking the length of the garment, because I'm really short, and really short people tend to have petite wee little torsos. I'll cover that in three sections:
• shoulder to bust: I separated the sleeves a bit sooner than the pattern and then added some extra increases along the sides to accommodate my boobs. I don't know about the rest of you, but the widest part of my bust isn't right up under my armpits. why are patterns always written like that?
• bust to waist: More than just being petite, I'm ridiculously short-waisted. I do have one, though, so I needed to cram a more waist shaping into a smaller space than called for in the pattern. I started them just under the bustline and continued right to the peplum, even though the pattern calls for you to knit an inch or so straight.

• Waist to hip: The hip increases in the peplum are made with the lace insets, which is really clever. I scoped out some of the finished cardigans on other knitblogs and saw that the peplum really flares out. Now, I'm more top-heavy than pear-shaped, and don't really need that much hip room, so I only worked 2 repeats of the lace pattern instead of the 6 or so called for in the pattern. I placed the lace right on the sides of the cardigan.
• I only worked one band of reverse stockinette on the sleeves, peplum, and hem. A big part of omitting the second reverse stockinette band had to do with the shortness of my torso.
• I knitted on the button bands as I went and made a 1-row 2-stitch-wide buttonhole every 15 rows. I did this so I wouldn't have to pick them up later and change ot smaller needles, because I am lazy.

I think that about covers it.