Wicked January!

I'm just going to say it... I can't believe it's already the end of January! GOOD LORD- how did it go by so quickly? Since January is always an awesome month for me, (hello!? My BIRTH month!), I managed to do some awesome knitting this month- check it out!


I give you Wicked....

Pattern: Wicked from Zephyr Style (Crap- check out 28thirty from the same designers- how badly do I want to make THAT now!?)

Needle Size: US size 7

Yarn: Mirasol Hacho - 100% hand dyed (*slobber) Merino Wool

Notes: This is my first top down sweater I've ever made and I love the construction. Bonus #1- no seams to seam up at the end (insert angel Hallelujah chourus here) and Bonus #2- you can try it on as you go. I loved the ability to try on the project- allowing me to decide where the decreases should go, how far down I should be etc. Having the ability to alter the pattern to my body shape exactly was so awesome... LOVED the pattern! Also? The yarn was pretty great too, although I didn't get the gauge for the pattern and had to do a couple of calculations to accomodate.

Here's a close up pic of the details on the sweater:

The varigation of the yarn kind of covers up the faux cable pattern that makes up the collar, the wasit and the sleeves. I'm planning to wear this to work on Friday-- I love that I can knit things that I actually want to wear in public now. (You know you're half decent at the craft when you actually want to show off what you made!!)

(Special thanks to my office mate Karina who took these pictures for me- I'm sure she thought that this whole thing was very bizarre and weird that I wanted her to snap shots of my wearing the sweater at work. (There is a meathod to my madness, daytime lighting is better- my condo has none by the time I get home) Thanks for humoring the mentally unstable Karina! {happy birthday!})

Of course with the completion of the sweater I desperately want to jump in head first on my next planned sweater project... except for one huge snag. I have to knit a blanket. (*sigh) It seems like whenever I'm really excited about moving on to any kind of project there's always a blanket in the way holding me up. (Sorry Chan, babies belong to OTHER people- not me.) It also doesn't help that I've got major troubles already with the newest blanket on the needle- I'm hoping once I get past the snag that it will knit up quickly. The "two before the end of March" deadline is freaking me out!!!!!

Not helping the situation on the Downer blanket- (which I'm so going to call it from now on!), Interweave released it's spring pattern preview. This in particular...

has me distracted! The pattern is called "Holly", which I'm pretty sure is a nod to Audrey Hepburn's "Holly Golilightly" in "Breakfast at Tiffany's", which just also happens to be one of my most favorite movies ever. I WANT TO MAKE THIS SO BAD!

Stopping me from running out and buying the yarn so that I can cast it on immediately upon receiving my magazine subscription is the spring sweater I had scheduled and already bought yarn for:

Yes... it is cute. BUT I WANT HOLLY TOO!!!!!!! *sigh* I seriously need to quit my job, it's REALLY interfering with my knitting time! Nevertheless, expect a lot of "Holly" obsessing over the next few blog posts. I'm going to try, REALLY, REEEEEEEALLLY hard not to buy yarn for "Holly", especially since I'm not supposed to buy yarn until September, (PEOPLE- TALK ME OUT OF THESE RASH DECISONS NEXT TIME WON'T YOU!?), but man, that little jacket is calling to me, begging me to knit it up!

Lastly, and I didn't forget, this last weekend I knit two baby hats for project "stash bust"- as part of the ongoing donations the MiL and I make to Rockyview hospital.

I'm on track for knitting at least one for every week in the year so far. I figure by the end of the year it should help my early-knitting acquired acrylic stash go away to nothing. (Before you lecture me on the goodness of wool- I'll note that the hospital specifically requests that hats be made in acrylic only.)

Alrighty- that's long enough! Can't wait for "Knit Wits" on Monday, MiL got my birthday gift in the mail and I'm going to be the proud new owner of some cool stitch markers and sock blockers. (The mind boggles with excitement at the idea of sock blockers!)