Finished Sweater Review: Wool and Honey by Andrea Mowry

This is the sweater I picked out for my 2019 Rhinebeck sweater- way back in January. I have historically had issues finishing sweaters for Rhinebeck on time. Now that I'm a little older, a little wiser, a lot more experienced with knitting, and free from the depression and burn out that I struggled with, I got a little faster. But I didn't finish this sweater until July 5th. (My belated honeymoon in Puerto Rico really gave me my mojo back).

The Yarn


First things first: the yarn.  The yarn I used for this project is the periwinkle sheep watercolors II sock yarn in "11 Ways to Dry a Chili Pepper". I bought this yarn at Rhinebeck 2017. It was my second sweater quantity of yarn purchased at Rhinebeck (we don't speak of the one I knit with the first. Someday I will write up a review of that pattern). I love this yarn. It's a nice 2 ply 100% Merino wool yarn. I am sad to see on the yarn page on Ravelry for it that it won't be represented at Fiber Festivals anymore. 

The Pattern

Basic Details:
Yarn Weight: Fingering
Style: Top Down Yoke
Inclusive Sizing: Not so much, it does go to 63", but it is shown with 9 inches of ease.

I really enjoyed this pattern- despite some issues of my own making. The first time I cast on this sweater,  the neck was far too small. So I tried again, this time casting on over both ends of my circular. I then promptly accidentally pulled out both needles. So I had to try again. After that third cast on things were much better.

My advice to people who would make this lovely pattern is to make sure you understand the logic of the increases and how they influence the number of wraps on the elongated stitches. The wider the hexagon gets, the more yarn wraps you will need to do for the top and bottom 'legs'. I did have to tink back a couple times to fix that. Overall the pattern was well written and fun to knit.

The body- which is knit in garter in the round- is a nice mindless knit. I added a couple inches to it as I am a tall person with a long torso, so I wanted the crop to hit me in the right place. 

The sleeves were really quick- especially once you hit the ribbing.

I still need to block this one, but I am really happy with how it turned out. The first of my possibly 4 Rhinebeck sweaters (yes, I could demote this one to a regular sweater, but I want to have my options open for the weather.)

Conclusion

An all around enjoyable yarn and an enjoyable knit. Just be careful when doing the neck cast on, and vigilant with the hexagons.

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