Not So Happy Puffed-Sleeved Feminine Cardigan

I finally blocked and sewed the buttons on my Puffed-Sleeve Feminine Cardigan from Fitted Knits.   Honestly, I must say that I am not so happy with this cardigan as:

1. It looks rather dowdy on me!  Very school-marmish; perhaps a change of buttons would help spice it up a bit?
2. The yarn--Knit Picks Merino Style--fuzzes, pills, and just wears horribly even though I have only worn it three times!  I noticed this while knitting it, but (foolishly) managed to ignore it.

Heres a close-up of the band I changed on the bottom (using the Turkish Stitch from Barbara Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns); you can see the yucky-ness of the yarn:

Ugh.  I will try a change of buttons and a lace-edged tank underneath to see if that reduces the school-marmish-ness of the sweater.  If not, it will be donated to some charity group that collects handknits.

As for the details, here is as much as I can remember (I finished knitting it in August 2007):

• Yarn: Probably 7 skeins of Knit Picks Merino Style yarn in the colorway Storm.  Super cheap yarn cost of approximately $20 for the sweater,  but the cheap price really doesn't matter since I feel that the yarn is wearing/looking cheaply.
• Needles: I think I used the sizes recommended (6 and 4), or perhaps a size smaller for each?

Comments

[Tonia]

Love the color, but I have to agree with you on the school marm look. It just doesn't look like your style at all.

Happy Easter.

[Angela]

Did you change the buttons, or did this get donated?
I like it, but would have done something else with the collar, left the seed stitch off maybe? Perhaps worn open over a cute tank would diminish the marm-iness.