I always liked knitting and crocheting---but have never made a garment that way. I also didn't like baggy and square-ish designs of many knitting/crocheting books.
When I came across the book "The Crochet Closet" by Lisa Gentry, her beautiful and modern designs finally convinced me to try to crochet a whole garment. I used her "Classical Jacket" design.
After a week of intense crocheting and some muscle pain in my right palm, I finally have a new cardigan!!
I used 8 balls of 100% worsted wool, so it came out a bit heavy (but surely warm!) :P
There are a couple of mistakes and some adjustments I wish I had made, but over all, I'm pretty happy with it. (after all, it's my FIRST crochet garment!)
Now I want to knit a sweater... I have been eyeing this beautiful design in the book called "Modern Top-down Knitting" by Kristina McGowan. Her method is that you knit a whole garment from top to bottom, using a circular needle. That way, you can try the garment on and make adjustments as you go. Being a sweater-knitting beginner, I don't know if that's a common approach but it seems to make a lot of sense to me. I'm particular about garment fit, so it'll be nice to be able to try it on mid-knitting. We'll see how that goes!
