I just checked off another one of my New Year’s goals by finishing my first sweater. Even though I have been knitting for a couple of years, I’ve always stuck to small projects that never strayed too far outside of my comfort zone. However, this year I decided I wanted to challenge myself in several areas of my life (curse you treadmill!), and build some new skills. Bean, though still in tornado toddler mode, is now a little more manageable, allowing me to spend more than two minutes at a time on a task. So, after finishing up my husband’s socks, I cast on for this owl cardigan and hoped for the best.

Overall, I loved the pattern, and this was a much easier project than I anticipated. My only pitfalls came from my paranoia about the fit. I was petrified that I would end up with a too-small, too-tight sweater after all of that work, so I went a size up from my measurements to play it safe. I should have trusted the pattern and stayed true to my size, because the end result was just a bit bigger/baggier than I wanted. However, it still is a nice, warm, snuggle-able cardigan that is perfect for a crisp fall day.  My OCD tendencies want to fuss about a few imperfections here and there, but before I can nit-pick the finished product to death, I have to remind myself…I knitted a sweater. That’s pretty cool. Time to tackle another goal…