The Apres Surf Hoodie

I feel that no blog post, photo, or description will do justice to the amount of time that I spent on this sweater. I am very happy to report that I love it. I love the yarn, the color, the lace pattern, the fit, and the fact that I learned really cool new things while knitting it. I didn't alter the pattern in any way, and still everything fits me just perfectly. The waist shaping is in the right place, the sleeves are the right length. The amount of ease in the body and arms is similar. (Most garments that fit me in the body are too tight in the arms and shoulders.)
The hood seemed to take forever, but there was some interesting short row shaping on the top which I was a little worried about in combination with the lace pattern, but it worked out just fine.
I did knit the hood and neck edging narrower than the pattern required because where they are sewn in here was only about an inch. Instead of knitting 1.5 inches and then doing the i-cord bind off, I did 1 inch, and to me this looks right.
And though I blocked the edge down flat, I wore it all day to Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival and it started to roll again. I hope this will settle down a bit after it gets washed and blocked a few more times. I am really happy with this sweater, but after almost three months of steady lace knitting on size 3 needles, my hands are complaining, so I am going on some larger gauge projects for a while.
Pattern: Apres Surf Hoodie from Interweave Knits Summer 2008 issue by Connie Chang Chinchio. (A very well written pattern, I will definitely try more of hers in the future!)
Size: 39.5 " (.5-1 inch of positive ease)
Yarn: Wolf Creek Wools Toe Jammies Panda (color CARO 688) 4 skeins, small amount left
Needles: Addi Turbos, size 3 and 2
Alterations: Only the width of hood-neck edge mentioned above