Since this is my first sweater, I didn't want to be traumatized by sewing lots of pieces together and this pattern (Knitting Pure & Simple #2911) is fantastic for that. I am also a big fan of the yarn I'm using which is Madelinetosh dk in the Kale colorway. It is so soft and lovely and the color variations are subtle enough to be extremely wearable yet visually dynamic enough to be very yummy to knit up :)
I taught myself a new skill on this project...the magic loop method for the sleeves, I found the dpns the pattern called for annoyingly unwieldy in the size 8 I required to get correct gauge. I can handle sock-sized dpns, big chopstick sized ones... not so much. Since I've got the knitpicks Harmony options set I will never have to buy another set of the larger sized dpns again, now. Yeah, stickin' it to the man!
I was moving so quickly on this sweater until I hit the sleeves. This is a top down sweater, so the sleeves are the last thing that needs to be done. Here I am, 1-1/4 sleeves away from completing my first sweater and I'm blocked. Now that the project is getting all big and more difficult to tote back and forth to work I let the siren call of my new self-striping sock yarn lure me away. Oh well, it's nice to have more than one project on the needles to keep things interesting I guess...and it isn't like I need a sweater right now, the weather is about to warm up, right? Right???
