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FO Friday: Pennant Cardigan from Knitscene

What perfect timing - last weekend, we had our first snowfall, and I finished my Pennant Cardigan from the 10th anniversary issue of Knitscene! It's designed by my pal, Mari Chiba, who is profiled in the issue by none other than....me. I'm super excited to finally have this project off the needles, just in time to wear for the holidays.
A rainy Thanksgiving meant our photo shoot had to be held indoors.
I started this project in August using 100% yak sport weight yarn from Bijou Basin Ranch; at the time, I knew I wanted to use handspun for the colorwork yoke, but I hadn't even purchased the fiber I'd be using for it! Luckily, a mostly stockinette sport weight sweater takes a long time for me to knit, especially when I have all kind of other projects and KALs to distract me. That allowed me to find the PERFECT gradient roving at the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival - a merino/silk braid from Fiber Optic Yarns in the Raven colorway. 
On Monday, I shared the process of how I approached spinning the weight of yarn I needed for this project (click here if you missed it). I was able to spin the yarn in just one weekend once I realized I was very close to being ready to start the colorwork yoke. My 4-day birthday staycation was the perfect time to focus on this project, and by the time last weekend rolled around, I was down to just the finishing work to mark this project 100% complete. After weaving in the ends, I blocked it in Prairie Breeze Allure (which I've decided is now my favorite scent) and then laid it flat to dry on my massage table (aka, the world's most expensive blocking mat). 
I ended up breaking the yarn in between each colorwork section so that I could "skip ahead" a bit in the gradient. I know it's pretty subtle, but I really like the black-to-deep-blue-green progression.
This would probably be more apparent in natural light.
I suppose this technically isn't 100% done: I have yet to sew on allllll of those buttons. Not my favorite task! For the moment, I am putting this off because a) I still need to purchase said buttons and b)I almost never button my cardigans, so I'm reticent to spend the effort, knowing that it is more or less in vain. I am sure that, at some point, I'll add buttons - maybe before I pack it away for the summer months.
Robin wanted to be a part of the photo shoot.
I also have plenty of yak yarn left to make a small project - I'm thinking about making these mittens for myself and using a few yards of SilverSpun yarn in the tip of the index finger so that I can use my phone without removing my gloves. I also have a lot of the handspun yarn left over which will be great for a small project, too! 
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