Finished! Purple! Gorgeous! Hail, Mary!!

Is there a more wonderful experience for a knitter than finishing your first sweater, and having it turn out to be EXACTLY what you wanted? Wonderful, flattering fit, great color, wonderful stitch textures, plump, bouncy yarn that's a delight to work with; and, for the piece de resistance, PERFECT buttons!

That's the experience that our delightful Mary Burns, a La Plata regular, is celebrating now. She wanted a comfortable, easy sweatshirt-style sweater that would look good tossed on over jeans and boots. She picked the "To the Cottage" pullover design by Sally Melville, published in The Purl Stitch (one of those books that, trust me, every knitter should have in her library). Worked in deep purple Karabella Aurora 8, washable pure merino, worsted weight. As you can tell, Shop Dog in Chief Caspian approves wholeheartedly. Four paws way up for the Aurora 8 sweater, Caspian says!

The stitch pattern is a challenge, but Mary did a terrific job. And as always with Sally Melville designs, the finishing touches (rolled reverse stockinette edges, a two-button henley-style placket, comfortable rounded neckline) take the project to a whole other level of custom-garment refinement.

Congratulations, Mary! That's the most amazing "sweatshirt" ever!!