Embroidered Button Sweater Complete

I finally finished my Embroidered Button Sweater from Classic Elite's Winter Whimsey book.  I didn't want to use the embroidered buttons, and I tried other buttons, but in the end, I went back to them.  The Dorset Buttons were really pretty easy to make.  The hardest part was finding the plastic rings.  In the end I used two from a fabric store which were meant for a purse and others from a craft store.  It did take me a couple of days to make the buttons.  I made them first out of a bunch of different yarns as I sat with my son keeping him company.  He was in bed with influenza.  I made the buttons liked them, and then went to knit the button holes.  I HATED the buttonholes!  I knitted three versions, then just gave up.  I had recently downloaded KnitWear Spring 2012 and remembered a sweater that had a wide button band that used snaps.  So snaps it was!  

The yarn that I used, Gedifra's Marokko which is 100 percent cotton, was very floppy and just didn't hold up to the buttons that I made.  So, I decided to line the button bands with fabric to give them more structure.  I chose Amy Butler's MidWest Modern II Optic Blossom (olive).  However, once I selected the fabric for the lining, I realized that my buttons and the fabric didn't match.  So, I had to redo some of the buttons, which took several more hours.  The buttons took an evening of movie watching and sewing.  This time I watched George and the Dragon with my daughter (we both loved the movie, great preteen movie).   

I used the Amy Butler fabric to cover my snaps, so I spent an evening sewing covered snaps.  And, yet another evening sewing the snaps onto the sweater!

Finally, I was done.  Here are some photos that my budding fashion photographer son snapped of me in  the sweater.

Sorry about the lighting.  We are finally having rain here, so the lighting was a bit tricky.

I have to say, I LOVE this sweater.  I rarely, make that never, knit the same sweater twice.  However, I think I will knit this one again.  I would make a few changes.  I would make the button band smaller on the next sweater and use regular buttons.  I would probably knit it out of wool, and I would make the sleeves long rather than 3/4.  But, I love this as a spring sweater in a cotton yarn.  I would recommend making it.  The pattern was a bit tricky at first and I had to start over a couple of times, but mainly because I put  the sweater down for a few months, then restarted, then had to start again because my gauge wasn't what I thought it was at first, but all's well that ends well.

Tomorrow I start the wardrobe redo with my first piece!