The things that one can construct with knitting is unbelievable! Seriously, with just a couple of sticks and some string–er, I mean, yarn–a person can create so many wonderful, beautiful, and useful items.

I am not sure what I expected when I embarked on this journey. While Hannah Fettig’s Lightweight Pullover is such a sophisticated piece and I look forward to wearing her pattern, I have to admit, I was a little intimidated. There was a real possibility that I was not going to be able to pull this look off–not on the needles anyway–as I have a way of destroying pieces by employing poor finishing practices, or admittedly, none at all. So many projects with ugly, random strands of yarn poking out everywhere, lie at the bottom of the abyss that is my project basket, never to have their loose strands woven in, never to see the light of day. They have fallen into the land of “Never”

That is where Nancie Wiseman’s The Knitter’s Book of Finishing Techniques comes in. The book is very well written and perfectly organized by types of techniques. Topics range from different types of cast on and corresponding bind off techniques, approaches to seaming, making buttonholes, blocking techniques and so much more. Each technique comes with its own list of advantages and disadvantages of their use, so that the reader knows which technique is appropriate to use for their project and why. As a reference book, it is certainly worth its weight in gold, and I would highly recommend adding this text to your library, if you haven’t already. Additionally, you could enjoy Finishing Techniques as if it were a text book, armed with highlighter in one hand and sticky notes in the other. For me, Finishing Techniques has offered a tremendous amount of insight and knowledge as to why sometimes my knitting pieces work out and on the flip side, why they sometimes don’t work out.

Deeply proud of this project, I am so excited to wear it soon! There was one “tiny” snafu ( I could be in denial here about the size of the snafu): Unfortunately, I had to knit the cowl-style collar back and forth on my circular needles and then join in the round at the body because I don’t own US 6 needles that are small enough to accommodate the circumference of the collar. The end result is a visible seam line. Some people have mentioned that they like the sweater just the same, but a small part of me is bothered by the fact that the seam is showing. I am not sure what is to be done about that just yet…take a look and let me know what you think! Also, please pardon my appearance in this photo. I had just completed a 12 hour overnight shift at the hospital–but I was so excited about the sweater, I just had to hop on the blog before going to bed!

The next step in the process is to start working the sleeves!

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