I’m going to preface this post by saying, ‘MOM! You are not getting this sweater!’ It is my Christmas present to myself and I’m going to love it forever.

It’s important because, while yes, somehow my Bergen Street Cardigan turned out a little large, I still love it. I STILL LOVE IT!

Ohh Cute Cardi!

But, yeah it’s kind of big. Big in a nice cozy way, but still big. The pattern is sized XS – 31″ bust and S – 35″ bust. I’m about 36″, but I figured with a cardigan it would stretch a little and be fine.

Loooong, Sleeves and Body

Thank goodness I didn’t go up a size because this guy is looong. The sleeves are really long, and the body of the sweater hits about 2 inches under my butt. I can’t imagine how knitting the XS size would have made much of a difference. It fits great around me, and it’s not like I’d skip a stripe with the smaller size.

Intarsia Back Striping

One of the selling points of the sweater pattern for me was the back striping, done intarsia style with the sleeve and shoulder shaping. It annoyed me, because I hate all intarsia, but I sucked it up and made it happen and I love it.

Armhole stripe?

Somehow I got this stripe in my armhole, which I don’t think should be there. There was a mistake I found near where the armhole rejoining happened. Pattern said end on color B when I certainly should have been changing to color A to match the sleeve striping. Who knows?! But yes, random armhole stripe.

Bergen Street Velma

Overall, the pattern was written really no-bullshit, which I’m all about, and it was easy to follow and simple and a really nice break from my holiday knitting. The Christmas knitting season isn’t the Christmas knitting season unless I have a selfish breakdown and knit myself a sweater!

So, Merry Christmas to me! The yarn, Knit Picks City Tweed DK in plum wine and snowshoe, is fantastic and I already have plans to use it again. I highly recommend the pattern, just watch out for the whole armhole color thing, and buy it from Knit Picks instead of on Ravelry and save yourself $2.

If you are reading this sometime between the hours of 6:15am and 10pm I’m on my CHRISTMASEVETRAVELDAYFROMHELL – somewhere between Minneapolis and Allendale, MI on either a Megabus, sitting in Union Station, or on an Amtrak. But I’ve got my new cardigan and my secret present for my mom so I’m all good. Follow my tribulations on twitter.

Everyone have a very Merry Christmas and remember: selfish knitting officially starts Monday, and I’m announcing two selfish knitting sweater knit-alongs! It’s going to be sweet!

Pattern: Bergen Street Cardigan by Alexis Winslow

Needles: Size 6 and size 7 circular needles and straight needles (for sleeves)

Yarn: Knit Picks City Tweed DK in Snowshoe and Plumb Wine

Ravelry Project Page

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