February Lady Sweater, finished!

Size: Medium
Yarn: Dream in Color Classy; Colour: "Midnight Derby"; 4 skeins.

I was exhausted when these photos were taken, but was desperate to get them done outside, between rainfalls.

I am deeply smitten with this cardigan -- I absolutely love everything about it -- the colour, the pattern, the yarn, the way it looks on me -- everything!

I did 23 repeats of the lace pattern on the body, and the same on the sleeves. I have a 'petite' sized upper body, so the length was right for me, but if you're longer waisted, then you'd likely want to add a few more repeats.

I had originally purchased sufficient yarn to make long sleeves, but when I commented to my husband that I though I would do shorter ones, he said: "good idea, then it won't looks so much like a 'granny' sweater!!" What does he know, anyway?

I washed it in my front load machine, on 'hand wash', as the label says it's washable. I was a little surprised to see so many fuzz balls on the sweater after washing, but they easily picked off. I put it in the dryer for several minutes and took it out while slightly damp and blocked it out.

Yay! Another FO -- onto the next one!

Damson

All in all, this was a great knit. The pattern was well written and very clear. Rather than the Malabrigo sock called for, I used the Dream in Color Smooshy (sock), which has an extra 10 yds. on it. I was thinking that would be a good thing to have (just in case) although, I'd pretty much determined that I wouldn't be doing the frilly edging. So, here I was, knitting along, feeling quite confident -- until I got to the 103 row, still had at least 6+ rows to go and realized I was running out of yarn. I just had enough to cast off, with 14" to spare! As you can see in the middle photo, The centre heart-shaped pattern didn't quite get completed and there was no hope for the frilly edge. This has NEVER happened to me before, so came as quite a surprise. I was not spending another $25 dollars to do 6 rows, so cast off and decided it would be fine as it is!

While not really a 'shawl kinda gal', I do like this one. The "U" shape keeps it on the shoulders, without constant adjusting; it also doesn't draw attention to the backside like the typical "arrow pointing down" shawls. I would likely make it again, but would either go down a size in needle, or ensure I have a lot more yarn to work with.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A new yarn shop opened up last year, about a 1/2 hours drive away from us. For various reasons, I'd never been there, until last week. They have a lovely selection of Dream in Color (it really goes against my Canadian grain to not put a "u" in the word 'color'!) yarn.

First in line is Dream in Color Smooshy (sock yarn) in the 'Happy Forest' colourway, which is slated for the Multnomah scarf/shawl.

Second, is Dream in Color Smooshy (sock yarn) in the 'Gothic Rose' colourway, which is currently on the needles and about 3/4's done, using this pattern called 'Damson'. I'm really enjoying how this yarn knits up, although I did find the large swath of garter stitch at the beginning a bit brain-numbing. I have a feeling that I may omit the edging as it's just not grabbing me at the moment. We'll see ...

Third, is Dream in Color Baby Lace in the 'Petal Shower' colourway (white/pink/taupe) and I'm planning to use it to make the Ishbel pattern.



This is Handmaiden Sea Silk in the Nova Scotia colourway and it is slated to become the Gail Shawl ... as you can tell by my current knitting, I'm on a bit of a 'lace' kick at the moment -- something I never thought would interest me. Never say, 'never'!

I have also discovered that while I like to have something warm and soft around my neck, I don't like the look of long scarves on me ... the scarf/mini shawl size seems to be the perfect solution and I love that it does double duty.

I seem to be slower to get excited about patterns or yarn that others jumped on many months ago already -- I think it takes me a little longer to warm up, for some reason. I certainly am not on the cutting edge, and while a lot of people have already 'been there, done that', I'm just starting to get interested. Maybe, too, I want everyone else to work out all the bugs first, before I tackle a pattern -- who knows?

In answer to my question in the last post, the answer is: "The February Lady Sweater", which should be finished very shortly. I'm half way through the last sleeve and definitely coming down the home stretch.

I find that about 1/2 - 3/4's the way through a big project (like a cardigan), I completely lose interest and start planning my next project and in this case, actually already started it (Damson). Then, I switch back and forth, simply because I can't stand to have a wip that's not finished, but really, the enjoyment of knitting it has passed and I just want it DONE!
Does anyone else feel this way? Or, do you, too, get distracted with the thought of what the next project will be?

Can you guess ...?

Just a little something that I'm working on for myself ... more to follow!