To start, I would like to remind everyone that this is the third sweater that I have knit for Alicia Plummer this fall. True, I tend to make slight modifications to her sweaters because I lack hips, but otherwise they’re gorgeous perfect creations.

I’m not sure what happened with my Garnered sweater other than whatever it was being completely my fault. The lace pattern was fun and easy to follow. The pieces fit together nicely. My gauge swatch lied to me. Actually, I’m leaning toward that last one being the issue. Then again, the body of my sweater hung correctly. Perhaps the sleeves being a little too long was a fluke?

Knit in Valley Yarn Berkshire, this sweater is soft (although not machine washable) and the lace stitches are nicely defined. When knit in wool, Garnered has the potential to be a warm but stylish addition to anyone’s collection — but I’m bias towards adding it to the collection of a hiker or runner. Just imagine rinsing off after a winter hike, or run, pulling on a pair of yoga pants and this cardigan. Mmmm perfection. I honestly can’t help feeling like a spokes person whenever I have the chance to bring up Berkshire.

I ended up gifting it to my friend, who loves it (or is at least nice enough not to say otherwise to my face). For all of the reasons that I didn’t like this sweater on me I love it on her. Sometimes I picture her throwing it on after a morning of rock climbing or curled up at night on her laptop getting ready to work on a grad school class. Usually when I do I feel a little bit like a creep…

Sweaters are a magical thing that tend to take on a life of their own. Once knit, even something that I intended for one person finds itself really belonging to someone else. As much as they also keep someone warm, I don’t find that hats and mittens have the same destiny. Perhaps when you knit a sweater (and I suppose a shawl too) you have more time to give it life due to the length of time required to complete the project.

Whatever the reason, this sweater came off my needles knowing the home it was going to, even if it didn’t know when the first few stitches were being cast on.