Finish Line

I pay attention and sweat the small stuff when finishing a project. After all the care to make the knitting look nice, I don't want sloppy seams, wonky necklines, or the wrong buttons. I chose a sweater pattern made of pieces, since I wanted the structural stability that seams give, so I was careful to put all the shaping increases and decreases a stitch in from the edge.

I have a deep and abiding love for the magic of mattress stitch. If only all hand sewing were this magical and invisible.

 

I mattress seamed the bound off shoulders as well, and learned to be careful not to pull the stitches as tight as I usually do -- the size of the surrounding stitches -- because it squished the bound off edges too tightly together on the other side.

 

 It took me three tries to get the neckline right -- I was overthinking it.

 The brown buttons were just right.

I am very pleased with the finished object. And it only took me a month!

Yarn: Berroco Sox (75% superwash wool, 25% nylon) in colorway Lidores (discontinued), just under 2 skeins
Needles: US 1 1/2 (2.5 mm) and US 2 1/2 (3.0 mm)
Pattern: Berroco Design Team's Johnny Boy, in size 6
Mods: Like most people on Ravelry who have made this sweater, I added an extra button and hole in the neckband.