Slowly but surely

Progress! I have been able to knit a few rows here, cable a few there, and as a result have gotten another inch or so onto my sweater! I actually have made it to the waistband portion of Forecast! I've switched to my size 8's to give it a more fitted look--overall I'm pleased with the way it's coming out. Hooray!

Merry Christmas, Mom!

Last winter my mom requested that I knit her a sweater just like my own. By the time I got around to getting the right yarn, it was too warm to wear a Forecast. So I took my time knitting it. I tried, for a time, to be monogamous to this one project, but summertime came and the lure of knitting with something other than worsted wool was too much for me. Finally, though, I've completed my mom's sweater, just in time to celebrate the beginning of fall and sweater weather again! Actually, I finished Mom's Forecast a few weeks back, but my camera broke. Luckily, I live with a professional photographer who was able to fit a photoshoot of the sweater into his day today.

We've got arms!Even though I love the original pattern, I've made several adaptations to the original design. Many of the changes were after seeing the finished product on Pinku. The pictures and descriptions from that blog inspired me to start knitting this sweater at 2:30 in the morning last week Monday. Please tell me I'm not the only one this happens to...

The biggest alteration I've made is that I'm doing a 9 stitch braided panel instead of the original bobble cable pattern. It's not that I don't like bobbles...it's just that...okay, I just don't like bobbles. This sweater is being knit out of Nashua Handknits in Evergreen which is a fantastic Wool/Alpaca blend. Because it's a chunky weight yarn, my gauge for this sweater was considerably larger than the pattern. This hasn't been a problem, its just required some extra trying on throughout stages. Once I finish the body portion of this sweater, I'm going to begin the ribbing on the sleeves much higher up. I'm hoping that this will give the sweater a puffy-sleeved look at the top similar to the Elizabeth Bennet cardigan in Stefanie Japel's book Fitted Knits.