Autumn Orchard cardigan

A few weeks ago I finished this cadigan for myself, and got my sister to take photos while she was home on break.  I thought the local orchard would be a good setting, and we needed eating apples anyway, so there we went.

The pattern is Mercedes Tarasovich-Clark's "Girl Friday" (free on Knitty.com!) which I've had on my to-make list for over a year now.  Finally I seized the chance when I had a lull in commission knitting and made it up.  It was a quick knit and fairly easy.  As usual I added considerable length to both the body and the sleeves, but changed nothing else.

See? Non-optimal button placement.

The collar did take some finagling to make it work. I knit it up according to the directions and wore the cardigan once, but I felt that the front bands pulled oddly and didn't have enough stitches in them.  So I ripped it back, picked up a lot more stitches this time, and tried again.  What you see here is Take Two, which I think sits better, but now I'm pretty sure I've spaced the buttonholes weirdly - the top one is a couple inches higher than it ought to be - so I'll probably go back eventually, rip back to the buttonholes, and place them differently.

It's very cosy and practical - this day was chilly, with a biting wind and the occasional spatter of sleet, but I stayed quite warm.

It's the first cardigan I've ever knitted for myself, but I hope it won't be the last!