November 1 ?

How did that happen? Oh well.

When I last posted I was mowing grass like mad and re-knitting the yoke of a sweater.

Ah. Much better. Here it is with the yoke redone and just the button bands and collar to knit. Heh.

I wanted a nice firm band so I decided to follow Lucy Neatby’s instructions for double layer stocking stitch bands with magic buttonholes. As Lucy suggests, I tried it out on a swatch first. This gave me a chance to try two different sizes of buttonhole (3- and 4-stitches) and to practice the grafting around the buttonholes in an easy-to-see contrasting colour. This really does give a very neat finished edge.

Here are some pictures of the actual buttonhole band in progress, with just the last two buttonholes to finish.

Wrong side of band

Right side of band

One buttonhole finished. Hard to see, isn’t it?

Even up close it is still nearly invisible.

Here, I’ll poke my finger through so you can see it. I went with the 3-stitch hole.

So, Labour Day weekend the sweater was completely finished. It fits great. It is nice and long and oh so cozy. I actually still need to wash and block it, but that hasn’t stopped me from wearing it. Sorry for the crappy pictures. I was looking into a very bright late-afternoon sun and had a reluctant photographer.