My First Sweater (for me!)

For my 30th birthday, my parents gifted me a knitting class at my local yarn shop and the yarn to make my first sweater!  What a great gift, right??  I had my first class this past weekend.  I am making the Levenwick sweater by Gudron Johnston.

The photo above doesn't really show the true color of the yarn.  It's Miss Bab's Yowza Whatta Skein in the color "Ladybug," which is a dark pink/red.

I really enjoyed my first class with Daphne!  This is the first official knitting class I've ever taken (everything else I learned from Erica and books/internet!).  We learned a lot about the different techniques we'll use while knitting the sweater and practiced the lace edging for the collar/buttonband, as well as an invisible increase technique that I had never done before.  I was able to knit up a 4x4 gauge swatch in class (which I have never done--I usually only knit a 1 inch gauge swatch for hats!).  I washed it and let it dry at home to see if my gauge will be right for the sweater.  It looks like it is pretty close...I may need to wash it again and see if stretching it out a bit will do the trick.  It's important that my gauge is right so the measurements of my sweater are correct...I don't want to end up with a too narrow, too long sweater like my first version of Drew's green and blue striped sweater!

We have to have the collar and yoke completed by this Saturday...wish me luck... :)