octavia glamour shots

Behold Octavia in much nicer lighting! I should explain the name. Last year's Bay Area yarn crawl "mascot" was an octopus named Octavia. This yarn was the largest purchase I made on that fun crawl, with the explicit intent of making this sweater. I must have subconsciously had the octopus in my head picking out these colors because they are definitely a call back. 

I am impressed with myself that I finished it so quickly, even with the month and a half or so languishing in the corner once I bound off. Fingering weight sweaters are not for the faint of heart! I have another worsted weight one on the needles right now and boy those may be my jam. But the nice drape and lighter fabric that can be achieved with fingering weight is so different, it is probably worth the effort to keep trying some more patterns. This one is seamless and has very little in the way of stability in the upper parts which may be my least favorite thing about it besides the neckline, but the a-line shaping and the fun hem are elements to keep in mind.

What else can I say about her? I love the colors. There's a small part of me that wishes I would have made the entire thing in this beautiful tonal navy, but I can't resist a fun color combination at the yarn shop. Also, I really enjoy coral as a color but it's tough for me to wear, so this nautical pairing both makes sense in terms of the yarn crawl theme and makes the coral wearable for me since it's farther from my face. 

Being totally honest, I'm not 100% satisfied with how the underarm end-weaving-in went, but I expect that to sort of work itself out over time and with wear. I'm looking forward to seeing if this merino/linen/rayon blend is one that I can tolerate well against my skin. The person at the yarn shop suggested it may be, so it felt worth a shot. It's fitted in the upper body and arms but not so much that I couldn't put a tank top on under it if I needed to. Probably not a T-shirt though. Hopefully something to enjoy wearing this spring! May it not get too hot too soon.