Roads sweater, finished

After a few unsuccessful sweater projects for myself (both of which I have frogged), I am happy to share about a sweater project that had a very different outcome! I finished my Roads Sweater, a pattern by Ozetta, and it was a very successful project (phew).

I deliberately chose a pattern construction that was familiar to me, and knit top-down, so I could check the fit as I knit, all in hopes of ensuring a well-fitting sweater. Knitting the short row wedge for the back was fun, and I love the garter detail along the shoulders.

I used Harrisville Designs Highland on a cone. This was my first time knitting with yarn on a cone! Truth be told, it's not that different from knitting from a wound-up skein, but I did love how few ends I had to weave in and there was a rather magical transformation of the yarn texture with blocking, since coned yarn tends to have more spinning oil remaining in it (at least that's my understanding of it). Although I could have brought this as on-the-go knitting more often, I found myself working on it most often in the evenings at home. The final fabric is sturdy, but also soft, and I personally don't find it itchy whatsoever. I'm interested to see how it will wear, but I anticipate that there will be minimal pilling.

I cast this sweater on January 1, 2026, and finished it on March 9, which is a pretty efficient timeline for an adult sweater, for me. I never really felt "stuck" on this project. I do enjoy jumping around a bit on a larger project like this, so when I finished a cone of yarn on the body, I put those stitches on hold, knit the collar and the sleeves, and then came back to finish off the sweater body.

All in all, I am thrilled with how my Roads Sweater turned out. It was a very simple construction, but the final fit is very good and it's classic sweater I hope to wear for years to come.

Details

For more details, see my ravelry project page

Yarn: Harrisville Designs Highland (I bought the coned variety) in the color "oatmeal." It was lovely to knit with, and the swatch and subsequent sweater blocked beautifully, for an airy, cohesive fabric. I loved this yarn.

Size: Medium (46 1/4" finished bust circumference)

Pattern: Roads Sweater by Ozetta : Hailey Smedley

Needles: I switched around needle sizes quite a bit during this project. I used a US 7 for the main body fabric, sized down one needle sizes to account for my loose tension gauge, per usual. US 8 for sleeves, since my gauge is tighter in smaller circumference knitting. US 6 (16”) to pick up stitches for the collar, then US 7 for ribbing. US 5 for the final round of 2x2 rib before rearranging stitches for 2x2 tubular BO.

Specifics/modifications: I did add 2" in length to the body, since I have a long torso, and I'm glad I did. The sweater is not cropped, but I would not want it ot be any shorter. I knit the sleeves on small circulars (12") and as a rule, my gauge is much tighter on small circulars. Ribbing on sleeves and hem was 3.5" (rather than the specified 3.75", I believe, just because I felt like it).