It only took until 2 months *after* the wedding to complete the engagement sweater. Just in time for cold weather. Brian is thrilled to have his own handknit sweater, and I am just happy there was enough yarn to finish it..

Pattern: Beck by Jane Ellison, from the Jane Ellison Queensland Collection
Yarn: Mystery worsted recycled from a j.crew sweater.
More project details on Ravelry

Modifications:

1. Size. The pattern jumps from a finished size of 37" for an XS to 43" for a S. I needed something more like 40". I swatched the cable pattern with 2-stitch ribs instead of 3, and worked it out for a size 40". It took a couple sketchbook pages to figure out the cable placements, but in retrospect, a pretty straightforward modification. I knitted in the round with 208 stitches for the body, and followed length measurements from the size S.

2. Collar. The collar is a bit shorter than the pattern suggests. I also decreased on the cast-off row, similar to the method I used on the urban aran.

Sure, everyone uses different yarns than patterns suggest, but this project took yarn substitution a step further. A couple years ago I was interested for a time in unraveling thrift store sweaters, as an economical path to decent yarns. These days, I mostly buy yarn at yarn shops. But this recycled yarn was still in the stash, and matched the gauge. No reason to buy more worsted brown yarn when I already had some, so, why not..

As the sweater progressed, 2 cabled sleeves and half of a cabled body later, it became clear that a yarn shortage was impending. Hrm. How could I possibly get more of the same yarn? Odds were slim that I'd find another matching sweater somewhere. Commercially available yarns might come close in color, but there would be a noticeable difference no matter what. But wait - I remembered way back when I posted about finding this yarn, a commenter mentioned that they unraveled the same sweater. Maybe they'd have extra? Amazingly, they replied, and they did have extra and would know in a couple weeks when their sweater was expected to be complete.

In the meantime, I decided to get as far as I could with the yarn on hand. I unraveled the swatches and finished the sweater body. Post-blocking, the body was just a bit long, so I took out an inch and a half from the back and front, and used that for the collar. After sewing in the sleeves, there is maybe a yard left. one yard!

Lesson Learned: You can get a sweater's worth of decent yarn for 5 dollars, but there may not be any more if you run out.