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Weekender Sweater in Brown Sheep Prairie Spun DK

Last winter, I reviewed Prairie Spun DK from Brown Sheep, which at the time was a new yarn in their lineup. I enjoyed using it so much, that I ended up purchasing a sweater quantity from Webs during their year-end sale, not knowing which pattern I would use it for. I kept this yarn squirreled away while mulling over my options and changing my mind more than a few times.

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Eventually, I realized that the perfect pattern had been under my nose the whole time: Andrea Mowry's Weekender Sweater! Of course, that didn't mean I started it right away, but then the stars aligned yet again when the Corner of Knit & Tea blog/podcast announced a Brown Sheep Sweater-Along that began on September 1 of this year. I knit my swatch in August and was ready to cast on once the calendar turned to September.

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Then I got a secret sample knitting commission and had a few other distractions pop up, and didn't get to work on this sweater as much as I thought. By the time November rolled around, it seemed like the November 30 end date would not be realistic for finishing this project, because I'm a really slow sweater knitter.

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And I probably would STILL be knitting this sweater if I hadn't taken some time off last month for my birthday and Thanksgiving, which I used effectively to zoom through Sleeve Island. I even knit my sleeves one a time, which is something I haven't done in years because I tend to get Second Sleeve Syndrome. Unfortunately, I've found that magic loop knitting (which is how I usually knit two sleeves at a time) really aggravates my arm/wrist/hand issues, so I thought I'd go back to one-at-a-time sleeves on DPNs to see if that allowed me to work pain-free....and naturally it did, so that means no more two-at-a-time sleeves for me.

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The sleeves turned out a bit long - I probably could have started the ribbing sooner than specified in the pattern, but I don't think that's enough of an issue to warrant ripping things back and reknitting the cuffs. Also, I've been wearing the sweater non-stop since I finished it, so I don't think I could bear to take it out of the rotation for a cuff fix! This is definitely going to be a sweater I wear a lot - the boxy shape is cozy (even if it does make me look a bit wide) and the yarn is warm, soft and sturdy. I'm so happy I finished this project relatively quickly so that I can enjoy it all winter long!

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