FO Friday -- Blocking Rocks Edition

Man, I LOVE it when I finish a sweater.  I love it even more when it fits and doesn't turn out kind of wonky.  And I gotta say, I had some concerns.  Here's how Lorna Suzanne looked when the knitting was done and the ends are woven.  It's pretty much the definition of wonky:

Yikes.  But I gave it a little swim in the sink, carefully squished some water out and then used approximately eleventy billion pins to wrangle it into submission.  Like so...

Seriously folks, I'm a girl in need of a set of blocking wires.

**This is the part where I show you the "after" bit, with the buttons all sewn on and the sweater looking fabulous on me... except for the part where it's totally still wet.  Sad panda. 

I contemplated going after it with the hair dryer so you guys could see, but that seemed a bit rash.  Instead, you get this picture with buttons carefully balanced amongst the pins, where if you squint, you'll be able to tell sort of how it might look say, tomorrow...

I promise I'll come back this weekend and update the pics on this entry with something more satisfying.  Sorry! **

Okay, so it took me until Sunday evening, but here are pics of the sweater in its full glory!

Pardon the squintiness, I was looking directly into the sun, and in a mad rush since Mr. Right and I were headed out to the trail to try out our brand new backpacks (more on them later!).

Here's a slightly closer shot...

That shows off the lace better.  I love this thing, and it's just a smidge bigger than I expected.  The only thing I wish was a smidge different was the neckline. It's a bit lower than I'd like.   If I had it to do again, I'd keep working the front for another inch or two before starting the decreases.  But as it is, I love it quite a bit, and am planning to wear it to work tomorrow. 

And one final shot of the back:

Pretty decent fit, I think. 

The yarn wasn't quite the color I wanted, but I think it worked out okay in the end.  It's Valley Yarns Northampton, which is dirt cheap and not bad to work with.  I used just over 4 skeins and so have enough left over for a pair of fingerless mitts or some such.  Not a bad deal at all.

As for the pattern, it was awesome to knit and the designer was incredibly patient with all my silly questions.  I read somewhere that she named the sweater after her mom, which I thought was an incredibly cool idea.  So cool that I totally copied her.  On my project page, this is actually called Janet Lavonne, who just happened to be the world's coolest grandma (despite her rather appalling fashion sense). 

She tried until she was blue in the face to teach me how to knit, then finally gave up and taught me how to crochet instead.  That didn't take either, but I think she'd be pretty pleased (not to mention jaw-droppingly surprised) to find that I'd actually knitted a whole (wearable, even!) sweater and named it after her. 

Next up in the ol' sweater queue is Narragansett, which totally line-jumped Idlewood when I found that amazing Shepherd's Wool that I picked up at the Loopy Ewe.  I'll start swatching as soon as I finish my Mousie (more on him Wednesday)!

For now, I'm going to go pester Mr. Right into taking me out to dinner to celebrate sweet sweater-y (almost) success.  And then I'm going to go check out everyone else's FO successes at Tami's and Fiber Arts Friday.  Can't think of a better way to start the weekend.  Cheers!