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The process of sewing up Ivy has been a "two steps forward, one step back" sort of affair. Sewing up the sides was pretty straightforward. Check. I knitted around the collar and attached it to the back. Check. I tried it on and the collar bulged out like a circus collar. Oops. 2 tries later (rip, sew, rip, sew) and the collar lies well. Check. I set in the first sleeve and sew the sleeve seam. Check. I try it on and the sleeve is 3" too long. Oops.

(This is a prime example of why a swatch should be washed before you measure it and I take full responsibility for not washing my swatch before starting the sweater. I'll also tell you that there is a slight difference between the back, which was worked on metal needles because I was impatient and the fronts which were worked on wood needles. But you really have to look for the difference to see it and I don't notice it when I have it on.)

So I take my other sleeve and rip out the sleeve cap and top 3" of straight knitting. Then I reknit the sleeve cap and sew that sleeve into my sweater. It fits. Check. Do the same thing with the first sleeve, but I don't have to rip out the whole sleeve seam since I sewed it from the cuff up. Check.

(The sleeve caps look a little sloppy at the moment because I reused the yarn that was attached which was kinked from being knitted. If this doesn't block out I will be very sad.)

All that is left is to weave in my ends and attached the belts (which I think will need to be shorter). And then, of course, another round of washing and blocking.

I'm a little nervous that the sweater seems wide at the shoulders...but since it is a wrap sweater it seems like that shouldn't be an issue with a nice snug belt tightening. I also know that it was difficult to really see the sweater with Stewart attacking the loose ends while I was trying to put it on. So I'm reserving judgment for a little longer.

I *think* it's going to be a great sweater. It's just a question of how much more blocking and tweaking is required to get it there. I'm certainly not giving up on it. :-)

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I've only started one of the many needed baby presents and it isn't currently portable. So I've made a lot of progress on the lace shrug this past week on the bus. But now I'm nervous to knit much more until I block it and see what its real final dimensions will be. I'm using lace weight yarn and the miracle of blocking will determine how far along I am in this project. It will be my first time blocking lace while it is still on the needles. Should be interesting.