After roughly four years of knitting, I have embarked on my first sweater adventure. I’ve always been a little nervous when it comes to fitted clothing because there is so much room for error. I am not the most precise knitter in the world. My lackadaisical habits do well for me when I’m plugging away on afghans, because it enables me to just plow away until it’s over.

Sweaters on the other hand… It’s all of the yardage without the wide open spaces to hide and compensate for your mistakes. If you fudge something on a sweater, everything following it comes out wonky and you end up looking like a Weasley on Christmas morning.

But I have decided it is time to tackle my first greatest fear. I will be precise, I will count, I will tally, I will double check my work. I made test swatch after test swatch until I got the perfect gauge.

For my first sweater, I picked a worthy adversary; Jared Flood’s Oshima. It is a wonder of a loose-fitting cowl-neck with ribbing on the neck and breast, and chunky cuffs. There are about 115 projects on Ravelry, and I am not lying when I tell you that every single one looks gorgeous. It is the kind of sweater that flatters all body types. It’s relaxed without being lazy. It’s cozy without being suffocating.

I finished the sleeves last night and I’m particularly proud of my job on the decrease. The double fashioned decrease was a new technique that I had not encountered before. But it was clever and resulted in a gorgeous edge that I can’t wait to stitch to the body of this monster.

Oh, and I have managed to write this entire post without making a single mention of the yarn! This marks the beginning of my love affair with Green Mountain Spinnery’s Mountain Mohair. At first touch, it seems a little scruffy, but it knits up infinitely softer. It’s got a great tweedy texture that is super forgiving. Unlike my other great love, Malabrigio, which you just have to look at and it pills, you can rip Green Mountain out and rework big tracts without fear. Amy, my knitting guru and local yarn shop owner, recently ripped out half a sweater of Green Mountain and it knit back up, good as new.

I special ordered the Midnight Blue because it was the perfect mix of classic and idiosyncratic. I almost picked a gray color that Amy had in stock, but I decided that, with my eyes, I had to go blue.

Now that the sleeves are done, it’s time for the body. The whole process is much faster than I expected and I feel as if I’m picking up speed as my excitement to see the pieces come together mounts. So, I’m sure there will be more Oshima posts to come.