In which (almost) a year has passed

Nearly a year after casting on, I finished the Cable and Rib Cardigan (Ravelry link). The knitting was finished back in January but I couldn't quite call the sweater as a whole finished until the zipper was installed and I was able to wear the fully finished garment. Yesterday afternoon, I finally screwed up my courage and hand-sewed the zipper to the knitting and I am right now wearing my new sweater.

I held off on sewing the zipper because my original plan was to machine stitch it but then when I worked on the blue sweater modifications, I realized that the knitted fabric has a tendency to want to stretch oddly, making the zipper look a bit puckery if you are not reeeeeally careful and I have very little experience sewing knits. This tendency resurfaced the other day, when I hauled out the sewing machine to make a couple of terrycloth napkins for Neatnik to use for school lunches. When I was top-stitching along the grain, the edges got a bit rumply; this isn't so much a concern for a (free) napkin which is going to be used on sticky fingers and faces and eventually become stained and holey and retired, but it is a bit deal when you are talking a 100% wool cardigan which represents a year's (intermittent) labor.

No, I am nearly as prolific a sweater producer as Cattywampus nor Yarnhog. :: le sigh :: moving on...

I followed Yarnhog's instructions for shortening a zipper,

used Sue's suggestion to sew the front shut,

before trying to pin the zipper,

and KnitPicks' suggestion to back stitch the zipper to the knitting.

I had to take a short break between doing the right and left sides of the zipper and almost need to have a lie down after it was done.

This is a very warm sweater! I wore it to church this morning under the thrift shop leather jacket and was able to take off my coat and still be all warm and toasty.

Lo and behold: a finished object!

Modifications:
Totally reworked the ribbing for the front panels so that the cables all flow from the ribs.

Left Front Panel Ribbing (size small):
Curly braces mark the stitches which will be worked for Charts A and B, respectively.

Odd rows:
(k3, p3)2x, {p2, (k4, p4)2x, k4, p2}, p3, {k2, p2, k4, p2, k2}, p3, k4

Even rows:
sl1, p3, k3, {p2, k2, p4, k2, p2}, k3, {k2, (p4, k4)2x, p4, k2}, (k3, p3)2x

Right Front Panel Ribbing (size small):
Curly braces mark the stitches which will be worked for Charts B and A, respectively.

Odd rows:
sl1, k3, p3, {k2, p2, k4, p2, k2}, p3, {p2, (k4, p4)2x, k4, p2}, (p3, k3)2x

Even rows:
(p3, k3)2x, {k2, (p4, k4)2x, p4, k2}, k3, {p2, k2, p4, k2, p2}, k3, p4

I also reworked the decreases for the armholes and used Yarnhog's shortrow sleeve directions to pick up the sleeve stitches and knit down from the top. Additionally, I adjusted the ribbing so that I had bilateral symmetry moving down the sleeves, eventually decreasing down to a p2, k3 rib pattern except under the arm, where I worked a k4 flowing out the side seams of the sweater's body. Oh, yes, and I decided that a 5½" fold-down collar was just too seventies to contemplate so I stopped at about 3½ inches.