WIP: Raspberry Heart

My Raspberry Heart sweater, which I'm knitting with the yarn I dyed last month, is almost done and it's going really well. It is again a sweater designed by me, boxy shape, reverse stockinette stitch with a small heart cable, split twisted stitch rib, drop shoulder, rounded neckband. Initially, when I first conceived the idea of this sweater I had just heard of the NaNoSweMo - National Sweater Knitting month and I thought this could be my participation in it. But I was then in the process of finishing my Wisteria sweater and I had to choose between starting a new big project and finishing a long-standing WIP. I chose the latter and I think I did right. I'll certainly be able to finish the new sweater within a month, just not in the month of November. I started it on Nov 23rd and I have about half a sleeve and the rib of the other sleeve to do, so I reckon I have enough time to finish it. And it could be my this year's Christmas sweater for Gaby, I could make it a tradition there with her black brioche sweater I gifted to her for last Christmas and the Mondrian Color Block Cardigan for the Christmas of 2015 :)

Because my yarn is hand dyed, this time I decided to alternate skeins. I'm using the Felix method for alternating in the round and it works brilliantly - smooth transition and no strands pulling the knitting, I highly recommend it!

The back of the sweater is plain reverse stockinette and as I'm knitting it in the round, the body was all smooth thoughtless stockinette knitting with just a small cable to break the monotony and facilitate the keeping track of my progress.
To spice up a bit the plain back I added just a single heart "tattoo" between the shoulders.

For the sleeves, after several false starts in reverse stockinette, I decided to knit them in stockinette stitch, picking up the stitches from the body and adding a few short rows for a smoother transition. I had plans to make the sleeves different, I have a very soft spot for balanced asymmetry, but in the end I'll leave them plain. And I'm not alternating skeins for them, I think the skeins are identical enough so that the sleeves look the same, knitted from the two skeins each. So far it seems 200 g will be enough for a whole sweater, the yarn is again fingering weight (500 m / 100 g) and it will be a small light sweater. A bit about the yarn - this is the first time I'm knitting with it and I'm not very happy - it's scratchy. I got spoiled with those superfine Italian merinos I've been knitting lately and this alpaca/merino blend is surprisingly rustic and itchy. I hope washing will soften it, but I'm not buying it again - there are so many new interesting yarns to try and other quality yarns to repeat knitting with.