The best gift exchange ever
Sarah’s February Lady sweater: 2 skeins Blue Moon Fiber Arts Twisted in “Corbie,” collar modifications ala Darkandstormyday
Katrin’s February Lady sweater: 2 skeins Blue Moon Fiber Arts Luscious Single Silk in “Bleck,” way off gauge on US#6 needles to compensate for the silk relaxation effect
Back in the fall we hatched the plan to knit these for each other for Christmas. We bought our own yarn, made our preferences for special features and fit known, and each friend set to work. We surprised each other with closure systems. I asked Rebecca to make some fabric-covered buttons that would work for Katrin’s sweater, and after an exchange of swatches chose this sweet sheer fabric that had belonged to her grandmother (photo borrowed from Rebecca):
I love how the silver of the button form shows through to echo the soft lavender-grey stripes of the garter stitch. Rebecca has more cute print buttons in her Etsy shop; I’ll definitely be ordering from her again for future cardigans. Meanwhile, Katrin outdid me by far: not only did she find a beautiful pin I can use to dress up my sweater, but she also constructed these brilliant cufflink-style closures I can swap in.
Two happy girls!
Posted: January 7th, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Both are gorgeous!!! But that Collar modification makes me want to cast one on right now…
Posted: January 7th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Yours are the nicest, most personalized two of these sweaters that I have seen in blogland. You both look terrific in them!
Posted: January 7th, 2009 at 2:11 pm
So beautiful.
Posted: January 7th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
january ladies in february ladies’ sweaters. that is really nice. i am itching to make one for my niece. just up her street.
Posted: January 7th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
What a fun idea! Both sweaters are wonderful and the personalization makes them very special.
Posted: January 7th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Both FLS look great! Congrats to both
Posted: January 7th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Wow! They are both lovely! You look like you have had a lot of fun doing this swap! Congratulations!
Posted: January 7th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
how lovely! both of them are just perfect for the recipient
Posted: January 7th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
What fun! Both sweaters are beautiful, and the buttons/closures add the perfect finishing touches.
You two have sealed it–I must have my own February Lady Sweater.
Posted: January 7th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
Gorgeous! What a great exchange!
Posted: January 7th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
So cute! Both of you, and both the sweaters, look gorgeous!
Posted: January 7th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
they are both beautiful but your color is awesome. i am looking for that yarn right now. and hey, i just was outside taking pictures of that window. see…http://flickr.com/photos/16401019@N00/3161034996/
Posted: January 8th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Yay! Thanks for the shout out. Both sweaters look so beautiful – you always do an amazing job.
Posted: January 8th, 2009 at 10:40 am
Whoa! Those are two gorgeous sweaters — both of which have changed my mind about the wearability of the Lady Sweater.
Posted: January 8th, 2009 at 11:19 am
What great sweaters! Those are amazing gifts.
Posted: January 8th, 2009 at 11:42 am
They both turned out beautifully! Love the personal touches! I am waiting some yarn I ordered to to get here so I can start mine!
Posted: January 8th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Those sweaters are both beautiful. I love how the buttons look with that fabric.
Sadly, my FLS is still waiting for me to get back to the sleeves. My own dang fault for not getting it done already!
Posted: January 8th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Both sweaters are beautiful! Great job.
Posted: January 9th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Wowsah Whoo-ee, or as the preteens say around here (northern England town)Fan-tab-u-lous squared,cubed and multiplied a trillion times. As a sufferer of scoliosis which deforms my neck front – the neck mods idea makes me happy.
I agree that this swap is a beautiful and outstanding success. Well done to you both. Very inspiring.
Posted: January 9th, 2009 at 10:16 am
What a lovely idea:)
And how beutiful they both turned out!
Posted: January 9th, 2009 at 11:57 am
They both look so lovely! I especially like the collar on yours…if I were to ever knit this pattern, I would definitely add a collar like that.
Posted: January 10th, 2009 at 11:13 am
What an incredible gift exchange idea. The sweaters are beautiful! The suspense was killing me though — you could make a reality TV series out of knitting swaps like this.
Posted: January 11th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
wow! both came out wonderfully!! i love the collar modification and the covered buttons just fit perfectly. What great friends to knit for each other. Well done!
Posted: January 19th, 2009 at 5:39 am
These sweaters both look fabulous– thanks for the link to Rebecca’s charming etsy store…. I now need to go pick out a pattern to go with the buttons I’m about to purchase
Posted: January 19th, 2009 at 11:01 am
What a great exchange. They are both gorgeous!
Posted: January 29th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Beautiful! Your choice of buttons really made Katrin’s sweater special. Just out of curiosity, did your sweater have darkandstormyday’s arm modifications too, or just the collar mods?
Posted: June 4th, 2009 at 11:34 am
[...] did, however, go down a needle size as this yarn seemed it would stretch (as noted by BlueGarter in her version). I ended up knitting the XXS size for my M sized body, and I’m glad I gambled: the fit [...]