I thought it would never be done...

I'm thrilled beyond explanation that I've finished my Arietta cardigan.  This beast has been a tough one for me to keep going on.  As I mentioned before, it has taken careful chart counting and color changing every other row.  There have been times that I was unsure what to do on a certain part, so I'd set it down for a month or so.  And the sad thing is, I'd rather be knitting just about anything else.  But I have been determined.  I held myself to my customary 2 project limit and forced myself to keep plugging away at it.  (Although, admittedly, I have whizzed through many projects on the "other" line.)  Seaming went well, and then I was left to this.  Holy end weaving.

Here you can see the inside of the side seam. Every 2 rows, the color changes. Instead of breaking the yarn each time, I carried the yarn up the right hand side of each piece. After seaming, it looks fine, and was MUCH better than weaving in all those additional ends.

 After all that wonderful end weaving, I gave it a soak in my laundry room sink. 

After 15 minutes, I drained it and held it to drip dry for a minute or so. Then I transferred it over to a towel on the floor. 

I then rolled it up to extract as much extra water as possible. I then laid it out to dry. 

I decided on only 4 button holes.  I still need to find coordinating buttons.  But that would mean a trip to a craft store.  And I detest taking my kids to any store right now.  So I'll get there eventually.  Here is the final project.

The yarn is Knit Picks' Telemark (discontinued line) in 5 colors.  See my ravelry page for details.  The pattern called for cotton, but I wanted wool.  This yarn is a workhorse, not a delicacy.  It isn't the softest of wool, isn't superwash, but nevertheless it knitted up nice.  The colors were inspired by a Navajo blanket I saw at an art show.  They are rich earth tones. 

This pattern is not fair-isle as it appears.  It's actually mosaic knitting (slipping the previous row's color up) and it is enthralling.  I picked this pattern to learn this technique.  And I GOT IT DOWN after a whole cardigan.  :)

This is a sweater for me, and it fits well.  Thanks for following along with me!  I feel like throwing a party to celebrate. Or maybe I'll just start a new project! :)