BeanMama Knits

BEFORE and AFTER I finished this shawl in April. Since then it's just been wadded up carelessly in my knitting basket waiting to be dyed and blocked. And because I didn't think it was terribly pretty, I wasn't in a hurry. But I was blinded -- BLINDED -- by the color I wasn't in love with. When I started the shawl, I wanted a simple lace project and I wanted to use yarn in my stash. I had 3 skeins of Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Iris Heather sitting around and it was dreamily soft and I thought the subtle color would do, and I cast on. I quickly became aware that I was not loving the color. But I kept going because I figured I could always dye it and because I really wanted to use up the yarn (I still have 1 skein left.) When it was finished, I wove in the ends and shoved it in said basket. But last week I bought two pretty purple tops and was suddenly motivated to use the purple dye I had bought for the purpose of dying this shawl and DO it so that I might wear the shawl...

I confess, I am not a good finisher. Well, that's vague. Let's say... I get impatient with finishing as I get near the end and often am not as slow and careful as I could be. I am trying very hard to take it slow with Shaker 'cause I am really hoping for a wearable sweater. So far, she is fitting better than I expected. The shoulders fit exactly right. The sleeve length is perfect. I sewed in the sleeves (which was nerve-wracking,) tonight, sewed in all the ends I could that were near seams, and have steamed the length of the body before I prepare to seam up the sides and down the sleeves. I have, however, pinned the pigeonfeathers out of it, so it's try-on-able. My only concern is that the underarm will hit me too low -- which I thought I did the calculations to avoid, but if it was a problem with the way the original pattern fits my unique measurements then I will not blame myself. I do think that I didn't stretch the button band enough before I sewed it on, and i...