It took me nearly a year, but it’s officially done.

I started this sweater back in November of 2018 in Wisconsin, and have just finished it in November 2019 in Western NY (and yes, we already have snow).

Not that I’m making excuses for why it took me so long, but during this sweater, I did move from the Midwest back to the East Coast, bought a house (check out my backyard!), and got married. So it’s understandable. I am so glad it’s finally done though–both because I absolutely LOVE the finished product, and because I was a bit tired of knitting the same thing for so long.

I’m definitely going to knit something small after this (I’ve said that before, haven’t I? Well I’m serious this time).

Before I dive into a new project though, I think it’s important to reflect on this project at least a little bit (it did take up a year of my life, afterall). This sweater was a great adventure. I splurged on the yarn (Manos del Uruguay Alegría Grande), and downloaded the longest knitting pattern I ever did see: 20 pages of pattern instructions, plus 2 pages of swatching instructions (seriously–and they were necessary!).

All those pages were worth it though. Elizabeth Doherty does an amazing job of explaining everything clearly and thoroughly. I learned so many new things in this pattern (short rows, waist shaping, and brioche being the big ones), and it surprisingly wasn’t that hard with Elizabeth’s expert instructions. I’d highly recommend this pattern to anyone looking for a new challenge!

I’m a huge fan of knitting in the round, which this sweater does not have you do, but it is so cleverly constructed that there is no seaming at the end. Which I think shows that even if it was not physically knit in the round, it was still knit in the spirit of knitting in the round. And that’s enough for me.

Here is a link to the pattern (Bodie by Elizabeth Doherty), and here is my Ravelry project page.