FO Friday: A Big One!

Ta-dah! I finished my February Lady Sweater! Since I only had one sleeve to go on Wednesday, I knew I was going to finish it, but I did not meet my goal of having it done by 8 o'clock Thursday night. Fortunately I did finish it exactly six hours later and blocked it overnight.

KNITTING: February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne
YARN: Knitpicks Swish Worsted in Amethyst Heather (8 balls)
And yes, I am using a DPN to hold my hair up

If you did the math correctly, you'll know that I was up until about 2am last night. I was exhausted, but happy to have the sweater off the needles and all of the ends woven in. I thought, I really don't want to block this tonight, I'll just do photos tomorrow with it unblocked. I'm sure it won't change that much. (I don't know why I thought this, because I've done lace knitting before and I definitely know how much better it makes the knitting look. I guess I was too tired to think straight.)

But, I went ahead and soaked it, put it down on the floor to pin it out... and it stretched. The body stretched down about 6 inches, going from just at my hips to just below my hips. So that's why I used 880 yards of yarn instead of 750! I guess that's why people block their gauge swatches. When I tried it on this morning, I was delighted with the length and I'm so glad this is how it turned out. The sleeves also lengthened a bit, which is great because I was a little worried about their length. 

One of my favorite things about this sweater is that it only took me one day less than three weeks to knit it. My last sweater, Oh My Bear! , took almost four months to complete. Granted, I knit several things in between, but February Lady was put on pause a few times to knit a pair and a half of socks, a gnome and part of a shawlette.

The only problem is I only made two buttonholes (completely by accident) and I don't have enough buttons for even those yet. But that isn't stopping me from wearing my sweater (inside with the AC- it's too hot outside!) and I doubt anybody will notice.

Thanks for stopping by! Check out Tami's Amis for more FO Friday posts! x  

WIP Wednesday: Almost Done and Just Started!

KNITTING: February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne
Socks (no pattern)
YARN: Knitpicks Swish Worsted (sweater) and Knitpicks Stroll Handpainted (socks)

I've been doing lots of knitting this past week! (And very little spinning, which is why you didn't get a post yesterday.) I finished the body of my February Lady Sweater and have finished one sleeve, however I have yet to pick up the second (perhaps tonight I'll get around to that; it's only 11pm after all). I used exactly one ball of yarn on the first sleeve, and thankfully I have exactly one ball left for the second!

I also started a pair of socks on Monday, and I absolutely love them so far. I'm doing a stockinette sole and 2x2 rib instep, toe-up two-at-a-time on US1 needles. I didn't check my gauge, I just cast on and did the toe increases until it felt like it would fit my foot, which happened at 60 stitches per sock.

This week hasn't seen much literary action (unless you count my own writing, which is thriving), because whenever I get my headphones out to listen to David Copperfield I suddenly feel like listening to music. However, the good news is that my best friend has started reading it and she is an incredibly fast reader, so in order to finish before her (competition, competition) I'll have to listen to it a lot more. Perhaps another thing to do tonight while I start the second sleeve?

Thanks for stopping by! Check out Tami's Amis for more WIPs! 

I have no idea what to title this post.

^ is better than no title at all, right?

Happy WIP Wednesday, y'all! Since last week, I've done quite a bit on my February Lady Sweater.

You probably can't tell, but I only need 5-6 inches of the body before I can start the sleeves. Despite this, I'm still a bit worried about running out of yarn. I'm pretty sure this is just the usual knitter's paranoia, because I bought an extra skein of yarn and I'm almost sort of positive that my gauge is correct (and yet I'm worried to check it in case it is wrong). But even still, I'm doing my best to knit faster so the yarn lasts longer. 

I've also been knitting two other things- the first is a shawlette I'm doing as part of the Pick-A-Boo KAL over at Crafts from the Cwtch, which I'll be showing off tomorrow. The second, shown below, is just a little project that should only take an hour or two to make from start to finish, but I've been going rather slowly. 

As this picture doesn't tell you much of what it will become in the next day or two, I'll tell you- I'm knitting an Ewok, inspired by the creatures of Endor from Star Wars. I've knit an Ewok before, but this time I'm changing the design a bit and already I'm happier with the results. I have plans for this little guy, which will hopefully be revealed soon. 

In terms of reading, I have not been very proficient of late. I've been reading Harry Potter at lunch and before I go to bed, and I was listening to David Copperfield but as I only had the first thirteen out of thirty-six tracks on my iPod, that stopped recently. However, today I uploaded the rest of the book and I can now finish it, which I plan to by the end of July so that I can start the next book on my reading list. 

Thanks for stopping by! Though you probably came from Tami's Amis, if you didn't be sure to check it out for more WIP Wednesday posts!