So close to a sweater

I really am very close to a sweater now - I have two sleeves, a back, and one front.  The second front is cast on. While knitting that piece, I must contemplate the edging.  The pattern calls for crochet, but I am not all that fond of crochet, both as a process and as a trim - I've done it on sweaters before and have been less happy with it than I might be (I admit here and now that this could be because my execution is poor - please do not read this as a condemnation of the craft in general).  I may do i-cord instead.  I may leave it as is.  Only time will tell.

What sweater, you may ask (it having been so long since there was much in the way of knitting content around here)?  Poplar and Elm, I reply.  I am knitting it out of HazelKnits Entice, and I can find no flaw in this yarn.  I'm liking the pattern rather a lot, too.  I did get a titch paranoid about whether I was knitting a size that will be big enough for me, though, so I blocked the back and sleeves before casting on for the first front, just to be sure.  (I'd like everyone to be proud of me for a moment here, though - note that I did not just knit a size bigger than it seemed like I ought to, just to be sure it would fit, as I have done in the past.)

It's all good.  I wasn't so worried about the sleeves, but it was a relief to see the back block out as I'd hoped it would.  I should mention that the one modification I've been making to this pattern is to make the body three inches longer than called for (and I'm relieved to have enough yarn).  It is written as a fairly short garment, meant to fall above the waist-band of jeans, for example, and I know that that's just not my style (nor particularly flattering to me), so I adjusted.

The motifs on this are quite nice, pairing, as they do, an openwork increase on the sleeves, with the same motif using M1 increases for the body.  I am particularly enamored of the body motif, I must admit (this is why I haven't cleared the blocked pieces off the end of the dining room table yet).

Isn't it beautiful?  Just the right amount of texture, and this yarn shows it off wonderfully.  The sleeves are nice, too.

I didn't block them aggressively, both because they didn't need it for the size, and because I know from experience that sleeves tend to open up in the wearing in a way that the body of a sweater (or a shawl) just doesn't.  So I took it easy on that. I didn't even pin any of this out - just got the pieces good and wet, and then stretched then out on the blocking mats and let them dry. 

My spinning is calling to me, but I am so close on this that I think I'll plow through until the second front is done.  Maybe even this weekend?  Hmmm...