I’ve been wanting to post this since the weekend, which is when I actually finished the thing. But for various reasons to dull to go into, I haven’t been able to until now.

I’m feeling rather pleased with myself over this one, and only wish that it was made from some spangly fancy thread rather than a basic acrylic. You could also level the complaint at it that it’s on the small side – certainly it’s not as big as the original pattern – but I actually really like it this size, and it’s slightly larger than it looks in these shots (honest guv!). All in all, I’m pretty proud that I managed to make an item of clothing – and an item of clothing that I’m really happy to wear, no less!

This time it all came out even till I got to the end of the second arm and ran out of stitches at the end. I decided either I’d cocked up somewhere way back at the start, or the pattern was telling my to count forward too many stitches. After unravelling it a good way back to double check what I’d done, I decided that since it all looked right, and even with the other side, I would just change the number of stitches in the pattern to match up (sorry if this isn’t making sense, but really you had to be there). That did the trick and it ended up being nice and even.

Despite that minor hiccup at the end, this was really quick and easy to make, and I’m thinking of knocking out a few more in different colours. I might tamper with the design a bit next time, since I never seem to be able to match the gauge, and I’ll treat myself to some spangly wool as well.

All in all, a great learning process for me and a large feeling of self-satisfied smugness to enjoy at the end of it – and a neat little gold shrug of course.