Lempi sweater

I created this post in July, 2024, but for some reason, never posted it. Gah! So here it is.

I can't believe I have not created a primary post about this sweater. The knitting has been long done, but I didn't consider it complete until it had buttons. I've taken it to spinning guild meetings sans buttons, but it could not go to the county fair without them. So now it is officially DONE.

Pattern: Lempi, by Tiina Kaarela
Yarn: Cascade 220, naturally dyed with a variety of materials and methods (see list below)
Needles: US8 (US6 for ribbing)
Modifications: quite a few!

I started this project in June, 2023, and sewed the buttons on June, 2024. Instead of rewriting what I posted on Ravelry, I will just copy and paste what is there.

The pattern is written in Finnish, translated to British English, and I'm struggling a bit with the instructions. Also, my gauge seems to be off, so I am knitting a swatch to double check.
The neck is *way* tighter than the photo, too.
***** The swatch reveals that even after blocking, my gauge is off. But I like the fabric that results from using US8 needles. So instead of going up a needle size, I'm going to knit a size larger.
So, I started over, but using US6 instead of US4 for the collar. Also, used an alternating long tail cast on and went right into the ribbing.
***** Some of the instructions are foreign to me. Instead of a "wrap-and-turn", they call for a "double stitch". And I could not figure out the buttonhole instructions, so I just did the usual YO-k2tog.
***** Too many errors, so ripped back almost to the beginning. Now I am using wrap and turn instead of the DS.
***** Again, with the errors! I was knitting along, fat, dumb, and happy, when I realized I had skipped two buttonholes. I tried dropping stitches and repairing the problem but ended up ripping back about 50 rows. And THEN I screwed up the spacing of the increases, so had to rip back about 8 rows to fix that. *sigh*
***** 8/21/23 - FINALLY reached the ribbing. This will be long enough to be a sweater dress.
***** Pockets. Ugh. For some reason, I have 22 stitches on one side, 23 on the other. I am going to do a k2tog on the "long" side, to even them up, as otherwise the stitches work out for knitting in the round. BUT after the pickup round, the "front" edge will be purl so that the fabric will bend, and at the next round, will purl two stitches at either "end" of the pocket, so it will fold along the edges without bulk.
***** Done with knitting and blocking, just need to sew on buttons and fix a hole that opened up under one arm.
***** Sewed on buttons made from deer antlers - UGH. Replaced them with buttons from JoAnn.
***** THIS SWEATER WON BEST OF SHOW AT THE ALLEN COUNTY FAIR OPEN CLASS COMPETITION!!!

And now, for posterity's sake, here are the details about the naturally dyed yarn:

Yarn	Material	Mordant	Modifier
Cascade 220	Dahlia (dried)	Cold alum	Iron
Cascade 220	Sycamore bark	None	None
Cascade 220	Sycamore bark	None	Iron
Cascade 220	Onion skins - Combined dye bath exhaust	None	None
Cascade 220	Dahlia (dried)	Cold alum	Acid
Cascade 220	Sycamore bark	Cold alum	Alkaline
Cascade 220	Dyers coreopsis	Cold alum	Alkaline
Valley Yarn Wool	Queen Anne's Lace	None	Iron
Valley Yarn Wool	Queen Anne's lace	None	None
Cascade 220	Onion skins -Secondary dye bath exhaust	Alum	None
Cascade 220	Dyers coreopsis	None	Alkaline
Valley Yarns Wool	Queen Anne's Lace	Alum	Iron
Cascade 220	Tomato vine	Alum and cream of tartar	Ammonia
Cascade 220	Dahlia (dried) exhaust	None	Iron
Cascade 220	Tomato vine	Alum and cream of tartar	Iron
Cascade 220	Dahlia (dried) exhaust	None	Acid
Cascade 220	Onion skins - Primary dye bath exhaust	Alum	None