June 2, 2009: Just started this yesterday, and I’ve finished the right front, and I’m one pattern repeat into the back. And I’m slow. This is a very quick pattern. And really fun!

August 22, 2009: Finished the crochet work a couple of days ago. It is now blocked, and drying. It came out a little smaller than I wanted. I got gauge with my swatch, but apparently tightened up a bit on the actual sweater. Blocking helped, but the 100% cotton seems to be springing back some as it dries. Still, with the overlapping front pieces, it will fit just fine. And the length of both body and sleeves grew nicely with blocking, so that’s just right now. I like the edges of the sleeves and the body to end at the same level when worn, and they do.

I have lots of this yarn, so I decided to make some little crosswheel buttons with it, plus a little bit of a darker green in Tahki Cotton Classic. I wanted something that suggested, rather than screamed “spider”, and the little crosswheels seemed just the thing. Now I’m having second thoughts, but after an exhausting search for the right color and size and type of button at my local outlets, I will probably end up using them. We’ll see.

I would have finished this project much sooner had I not been distracted by other projects and life in general. The stitch pattern was fun and easy to memorize, even for me. I don’t usually memorize anything. I rely heavily on 3x5 cards.

August 23, 2009: I decided to tie the crosswheel buttons on and take some pictures. The photos may look a bit monotonous, but each one is different. I love that the sweater fits & looks good however it’s buttoned. My “buttonholes” are just chained extensions of a slip stitch edge I added. The pattern shows it fastened just at the top edge with a pin, like the pic where I just buttoned the top button. The only other mod I made was to lengthen the body by one pattern repeat.

I love it, and though I will take a look at other buttons, I’m happy enough with what I have.

And I love this yarn! :^D

2015 update:
I still love this sweater and wear it regularly. It’s held up beautifully. Actually looks as good as it did when I took these pics 6 years ago. And I still get compliments on it. <3