Massive Cardigan

Two nights ago I finished the cardigan. Trying it on before blocking took the pleasure out of blocking: I knew then and there the cardigan would not fit me. It's way, way, way too big! The bloggers were right about the arm holes, which are too large, and the poor fit of the open closure, which does funny things as soon as you move (see cmeknits' and cleverknits' blog entries. Those two blog posts freaked me out last week: maybe the cardigan is a classic case of self-fulfilling prophecy. I feared it wouldn't turn out right, and so it didn't.) This is really sad; the cardigan looks so good in the magazine and many Ravelry knitters turned out very nice results. I love the design. And it's my first big project (no pun intended). And the yarn's lovely. And... and... and...

I checked the gauge and measured myself before I began knitting; as a matter of fact, I was in my LYS as I measured, just to have someone help me to get it right. We agreed that I should knit the 43 1/4" size (42" bust plus positive ease, at least one inch). Looking at the sweater now, I should have knitted a smaller size. Both my mother and grandmother always knitted a size smaller than their regular dress size: is that a trick to keep in mind?

As means of damage control I will use a couple of hook-and-eye clasps to close the front (from the neck to the waist: all the way). I hope that will improve the fit. The yarn is very comfy, so if I really can't save the cardigan, I can still wear it at home, as a yummy house sweater.

(This is the cardigan in its unblocked state. I'm still waiting for it to dry to take additional pictures. Even in this unflattering picture the cardigan looks quite good compared to the "real deal"; as soon as I move in it, the front panels fall to the sides.)

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PS: A couple of days later and a couple of sizes bigger: here's the cardigan after I washed it (too bad I could not shrink-block it):

As soon as I don't hold the cardi together with my hands, it just falls off. :(