I want a new drug

...One that's not spindles!!

But where's the fun in that? Here are my newest additions, 3 beauteous Kunderts. I'm so glad I splurged & got the hand-carved cedar. The wood is just gorgeous & is even lovelier with the carvings.

So, I'm going to actually use my spindles and participate in the Ravelry Spindlers Group January challenge to spin a skein of yarn this month.
This month's theme is "Have a Drink". Mine will be "Malibu Mojito", comprised of 1 ply of green merino/silk (the mojito) & 1 ply of white wool (like the Malibu bottle), to become a scarf for Deanna. I'm shooting for a worsted/chunky weight, and am trying not to overspin this. It's a challenge, cuz I keep wanting to spin my default yarn, which is sport/dk weight. But I'm the boss of my spinning, and I'll get it done! :-)

Spindlicious Def:

As I alluded in my previous post, my spindle collection has grown, and the babies finally arrived:

This beauty is a special-order Woolly Designs "Flowers" spindle by Tracy Eichheim. Truly a lovely hand-crafted unique design! The cut-outs are also cut by hand - super impressive. I'm so happy with this one!

Also got my Spindlewood Co. special order square spindle:
This one spins like a dream, and is so different-looking. Its whorl is of bloodwood & yellowheart, and the contrast in the colors is so nice. And the circles stay perfect when the spindle is in motion. Steve is an extremely talented woodworker!

Not to be outdone, the Spanish Peacock does it again:
My special-order Snowflake spindle finally arrived, and was sooo worth the 6-weeks wait time. The light Holly wood is perfectly contrasted with the black Ebony. Spectacular! I can't say enough about how much I love Mike's work.

And it just so happened that Sheila Bosworth posted on the Spindlers list that they had Midi's available, so hopped over to the website immediately and was lucky enough to snag a gorgeous Pau Amarillo one:
This spindle sooo lives up to the hype of the Bosworth Spindles. It spins smoothly, and FOREVER! So psyched I was able to finally get my hands on one of these.

So, here are my beauties all together:

Who needs flowers?


I've also knitted some great Christmas gifts for my friends, but I'm most-proud of the Christine Bag. Knitting was a breeze, and only took about 3 hours, but the lining was horrible. But I learned a lot from the process, so when I do one for me, it'll go a lot smoother...hope springs eternal!

Just checking in

Yes, I suck at blogging, but I have been crafty, so I'll show you pictures...
First, I have to show you my Kunderts. I LOVE Kundert spindles! I actually have another on the way...a beautiful cedar, purpleheart & maple one. I can't have enough, and they are so gorgeous, well-made, and spin forever! They're individually hand-crafted, and are so reasonably priced I'm going to pick up as many as I can before Steven Kundert gets wise and starts charging more for these spectacular works of art :-)
Here are my other spindles. I've got 2 Spanish Peacocks, which are also wonderfully hand-crafted, and I've got another one of those on the way, too. Steve is making me a custom one with a white Holly wood whorl (Hollywood, hehe!) and a black Ebony shaft with a SNOWFLAKE design! I can't wait! Of course I have my Golding, a lovely carved spindle from etsy, and another Walnut etsy find. Oh, and I've delved into Turkish spindles. I haven't quite gotten the hang of spinning bottom whorl, but I do love the idea of being able to get a ball of yarn right off my spindle, and not having to do the whole winding into a center-pull ball to ply thing, so I'll keep it up till I master it. I have also an awesome Spindlewood Co square-whorl spindle being made for me, which will be totally unique. And I can't wait till next payday to order a Tom Forrester...probably one of the geometric ones. Yes, I have a bona fide spindle addiction, but I figure there are worse things I could be...

So, to support my spindle habit, and to protect my lovelies on the go, I also knit and felted a nice spindle bag for my yarn in progress.
I am not too happy with how much it shrunk in height, so I didn't felt it further, but it still does the job. I've actually ordered a fabric spindle bag from a nice vendor on etsy, so I'm eagerly awaiting that.

I'm also almost finished with a pair of socks, of which I'll take a picture once they're done. Oh, and this is my first complete 4 oz of yarn spun & plied (plyed?) entirely on a spindle: I spun this up in an airport, on the beach in Cancun, and everywhere in between. All done on my cute heart Kundert spindle. I'm thinking a diamond modular scarf will be just the thing to showcase the color changes on the yarn, but I need to create the pattern first :-).

Oh, I also got a new drum carder...a Fancy Kitty one. Sorry, no pic yet. So, I've experimented on my carder to test how well it does with fine wool, and processed some Brown CVM fleece, which came out sooo soft and lofty, but which has TONS of VM, so I'm not too happy. I also carded some super-crimpy Merino fleece with some fun colorful sari silk, and spindled a little sample (next time I'll add more silk). Also, I spun my first Merino roving in a lovely brick color. It took a little getting used to, and the resulting yarn is more uneven than I like, but, hey, it's handspun! I have 8 oz of this, and it matches a pair of Uggs I have perfectly, so I'll probably make a scarf & hat.

OK, and non-fiber crafty stuff was also made:
This is a pirate coat I sewed recently. The lapels just about killed me! I still have to put on clasps in the front, and buttons on the cuffs, and hand-sew the lining shut, but the hard stuff's done, and I'm happy with this purty little number.

So, my ambitious plans for the future include dyeing some fleece, carding cool mixed batts with different colors & fibers, and of course, spinning & knitting when I can; I'll let you know how it goes. :-)

New Obsessions

As if I needed another craft to vie for my already-limited free time, my friends convinced me that buying a sewing machine would be good way to save money in my quest to clothe myself and my family for Renaissance Faires. I was easy to persuade, seeing as how the prices for said Faire costumes are completely outrageous!

Anyway, I now have 5 skirts, 3 bodices (complete w/boning), 1 chemise, 2 kids shirts, and a pirate vest under my belt...and they ain't half bad, if I do say so myself. And, I can make them out of the natural fibers which really make the outfits look great, cuz they sure didn't have polyester back then ;-). So, here are just 2 of the outfits I've come up with:


I've got my piratey costume, complete with the felt hat I hand-formed and decorated myself, and 2 authentic linen skirts. I must admit that I bought the chemise, but I did make the bodice.
My peasant costume was pretty cool too, because I got to make bracers and I learned how to drop spin just so I could roam about the Faire doing a period activity. This bodice came out a little too small, but it's a bodice, so it still works!

Yes, the Ren Faire inspired me to learn spindling, which I had resisted until now. But I took a class at my local yarn shop, found that it's super-easy since I already know how to spin on a wheel, and I'm officially hooked! So now I've bought waaay too many 4 oz braids of handpainted wool and have a bonafide spindle addiction:



I've got a custom-made Spanish Peacock Purpleheart, Golding Celtic Knot, a little Poppy one off etsy, and a nice Kundert (my first). Lovely!
Anyway, this is why you'll forgive me for not knitting lately. :-)

Regrets

I regret being seduced by the beauty and softness that is Malabrigo, throwing good sense out the window, and not attempting this Olympic project in the called-for chunky weight yarn. Because of my poor choice, I've wasted precious competition time on calculating stitch counts (which I HATE doing) and the knitting is of course much slower at the worsted gauge because of inceased number of over-all stitches I must make. DUH!

Also, the finished sweater is not going to look anything like the cozy cushy sweater I had envisioned. Again, because of the poor yarn choice. I'm hoping it will still be nice anyway.



I'm decreasing for the waist, but I think I put too many too close together, because it takes in rather sharply. I'm thinking it doesn't look good and I'm going to have to rip.

I'm still giving it my all, but I'm quickly losing faith that I'll finish this thing by the 28th.

Olympics

I've been shying away from the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics challenge because I'm aleady hopelessly limited on knitting time due to my 3-4 hour DAILY commute, my full-time job, my boys' homework, just to name a few.

However, I'm being sucked in to the whole thing, and would like to challenge myself to actually finish something. AND, I finally succumbed to peer pressure and ordered and got my first-ever Malabrigo worsted in a lovely colorway called Autumn Forest:



I want to work with this RIGHT NOW, and don't want it to become stash and then get sucked into the whole "I don't want to use this stash yarn I've had forever because I'm waiting for the PERFECT project for it" and then I end up a crazy yarn hoarder.

So, I'm going to try to do "Sedum" by Jane Richmond. It's a free Ravelry download, so check it out!
Doesn't it just scream "comfy" and "cozy"? I think it would be the perfect project for the super-soft, cushy, warm Malabrigo. So, I'm going for it.

It doesn't seem like it will be a technical challenge for me, but it is definitely a time-constraint challenge. So, this will require self-discipline and extreme time-management, which I need to work on anyway. I'm signed up for both the Knitting Olympics and Ravelymics, so there is great potential for public humiliation should I fail. Let the games begin!

Knitting FO's - really, I swear!

I finally finished Sylvi and I'm the most-happy I've ever been with a finished knitting project. Here she is:




Isn't she lovely? I've gotten so many positive comments from random strangers, and that NEVER happens.

Anyway, the pattern was easy to follow and very well-written. My modifications: omitted the hood, which resulted in me changing the cable pattern on the back; I modified the sleeves a bit by tapering them; I added a flower on the front right panel. I just did not enjoy the sewing of the petals (I despise sewing). I also found perfect buttons (pink plumerias carved from coconuts), which turned out to be too big for the buttonholes, so I have to sew on hook & eye closures now. But it was soooo totally worth it!

Also, my recent road trip to Colorado for Thanksgiving provided lots of knitting time. I made this adorable little fishy hat for Trevor.



I had to fudge the pattern a bit to make it small enough for his head, and I'm not sure I'd be able to do it again. One of a kind!

I also started my Heroine coat.
I've finished the back, and I love how the tweedy yarn looks. It will be felted eventually, and I'm really excited to get it going. But now it's on hold for me to do some Christmas knitting. So, for the next two weeks, nothing but scarves, little felted bags, teddy bears and caps for me. We'll see how much I actually get done!

proof

To prove that I am actually knitting, here's a pic of my current project, Sylvi.
I've almost finished the back. I'm modifying the pattern by omitting the hood. This means that I have to change the vines & flowers, since the pattern says they should climb up the hood. I've made the changes, and now I'm hoping it won't look too retarded.

For all you Ravelers who want to track my progress, here's my project link: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/chicksryd2/sylvi

I'm still nervous about what the final measurements will be, but I'm hoping for the best!

Don't call it a comeback...

Since last I posted, lots has happened...no duh, right? But I've started knitting and spinning again, so I guess I can post here again.

Ravelry has had a lot to do with my getting back into the fibery stuff I love, so I'm really grateful for it. My active project is the gorgeous Sylvi coat from the Twist Collective: http://twistcollective.com/2008/winter/magazinepage_06.php

I'm using stash Cadena from KnitPicks, a lovely plush alpaca/wool blend I used in a previous sweater I posted before..."Cabled Cardigan", or some other such bland name. Anyway, I'm knitting tighter than the gauge, but I did do a swatch, and actually washed and blocked it and...drum roll please...GOT GAUGE with a nice, drapey fabric, which will be nice because I think thick alpaca might make this too hot for the So Cal weather.

So now, it's very disconcerting to see the actual measurements so much smaller than what they're supposed to be. But, I'm going to trust that little 4x4 piece of knitted fabric, and will continue on. Plus, lots of Rav folks say that they blocked the hell out of their Sylvi's and they turned out fine. I'm still going to add some extra rows to make it longer, though, because I don't want any width to get sucked up into making it longer.

I'll get some pics up soon...

Off to Colorado

Well, another post sans pics. But, I did start my black cap as I had promised you, and it fit very well, so I'm excited that I got a recipe that will work. However, I forgot it over Matt's parents' house on Christmas, so it's not being worked on. Also, in that same bag, I had Honey's socks, so those aren't getting any closer to being done either.

But, I'm leaving to Colorado today to spend New Year's w/Matt's brother & his wife (his brother's wife, not Matt's). We'll go snowboarding, and indoor parachuting (I'm very nervous about that one), and taking them to dinner to celebrate various b-days. But, this also means that I MUST HAVE KNITTING to save my sanity on the plane. Therefore, I have packed 3 skeins of Worsted Weight yarn, a skein of sock yarn, some appropriately-sized dpns and 16" circs, so I will cast on another hat. Or a sock, if the mood so strikes me. After all, I imagine it will be very snowy out that-a-way, and you can't have snow without knitting, now can you?

When I post next year, I'll have pics. I promise :-)

Obligatory monthly post

Well, I have no pics for you this month. I am still working on Honey's sock cuffs. I did detour for a day and begin working on an A-line swing coat, but I'm not happy with it thus far, so I need to rip it. But, I did use my Harmony needles on it, and I must say that I LOVE them!

What else? I'm going to start a basic ribbed cap with a pony-tail hole. It's ridiculous that I haven't finished a cap for myself. I've already been snowboarding twice, and had to stoop to borrowing a cap from my Honey, since my store-bought hat has disappeared. But, come on, seriously, it takes like no yarn and very little time to knit a cap!

But, I find myself spending a ridiculous number hours agonizing over the color (pink? white? black? brown? a combo?), the design (cabled? What cables? Fair Isle? What design?), the construction (ribbed completely? ribbed on the bottom & stockinette for the rest?). Then I search for patterns, surfing the web, flipping through magazines, and checking my books. At that point, it's pretty much paralysis through analysis and I give up on the whole idea.

Then, I look in stores like Hollinger where SIMPLE 2x2 rib hats are $25, and my resolve is renewed. $25 for ACRYLIC?!?! And they're always too big for my freaky-small 19" head. And there's no ponytail hole!

So, today, I am casting on 84 sts of some basic Black stash wool yarn and doing 2x2 rib until it's time to insert a largish one-row buttonhole a'la EZ for my ponytail, and I resolve to have it done by Wednesday, which is my next snowboarding trip. I'll let you know how it comes out.

P.S. - Honey's daughter has let the scarf die on her needles, as she had gotten stuck and I wasn't around to help. I'm not pushing the issue, but I'm planning on knitting around her and making really cool hats in the hopes that she'll become inspired once more. We knitters are so devious! :-)

Propagating

So, I must let you all know that I have been busy hooking a poor, unsuspecting 10-year-old girl into our fibery fun. I taught my boyfriend's daughter how to knit last weekend.

I tried showing her the continental method, which I favor, but she ended up latching on to the English method, which I showed her when she was having issues with the other. She picked it up so quickly and loved it so much ("This is fun!"), that I had to strike while the iron was hot and I promptly took her to the craft store where I bought her a beginner book and the called-for yarn and needles for a garter-stitch scarf. The colors she picked are great, we modified the amount of c/o stitches (see? already letting her know that patterns are merely guides), and away she went. I haven't spoken to her since the weekend, and her dad keeps forgetting to ask her how she's doing with it, but I'm hoping her knitting is continuing apace, and that soon she'll be ready to learn purl. If not, well, at least she tried it.

Speaking of her dad, here is how his socks are coming along:

Yeah, I'm pretty burned out on them, but I'm soooo close to a pair of socks.

But I unearthed some socks in progress I had apparently started in May 2006. And, since these were for ME and were close to being done, I took a break from Matt's socks and actually finished something:



I LOVE my socks! They're comfy and fit me perfectly. Of course, I didn't write down how many stitches these were, but I think it was 56. They're Regia Stretch, and I am exceedingly happy with the yarn, and I'm on a FO high.

I'm feeling so good, I've been tempted by the beauteous Autumn Rose fitted Fair Isle 3/4 sleeve sweater designed by Eunny Jang. I would like it to have full sleeves, and I'm seeing that the best deal I can get would bring the price tag of the yarn & book for this pattern to about $96.00. So, I'm passing (for now), and am entertaining ideas of starting the "U-Neck Sweater" I was eyeballing at the end of last year. At least I already have the pattern and yarn for it.

Or, I could start an A-line swing coat in chunky wool which would go pretty quickly. Or, I could do the Aran Coat ala Meg Swansen from "Knitting Around", as I have the yarn, the book, and the video for it.

Or maybe I should force myself to plug along on my poor Honey's socks and let him know the joy that is perfectly-fitting, hand-made, love-induced knitted socks.

Ummmmm..

Okay, okay. Yes, I realize that it's been now four months since my last (lame) post. However, I do have knitting to show you:



Um, now I must explain myself. This is a pair of socks in progress, at the point where the heel has just been completed and I am now sailing up the cuff in 2x2 rib. They seem quite long, do they not? That's because they are for a size 13 foot.

Now, I realize that in my last post, I was thanking my lucky stars that I was not planning on knitting for a size 13 foot. Well, let's just say that now I AM thanking my lucky stars that I am knitting for a size 13 foot. Irony is great.

So, these socks have been my WIP for the past 2 months. I hope to have them done soon. I then plan on making a hat for myself which has a hole in the top for a pony tail for when I go snowboarding. I have issues with goggle placement.

And, this is the only knitting-related purchase I've made in many, many months:



Yes, I succumbed to the new Knit Picks Harmony needle set. I haven't yet knit with them (I'll use 'em on my hat), but they feel very slick and warm and they are just beautiful! I'm so happy with them, even though they only go down to size 4.

OK, so I won't make any promises so that your expectations will remain low, and therefore the chance of disappointment is lessened when I don't post for another few months. But, hopefully, I'll keep my act together, and you'll see a pair of finished socks soon...

Over 6 months have passed...

Hi there!

My goodness, where has the time gone? I'm so sorry to have been gone for so long, but, you know.

So, hey, since last we spoke, I've completed the dragon scarf, the Fiesta Shawl is in the exact same state it was when you last saw it, and I believe I've only finished knitting a baby hat. So, you see, it was a blessing for you that I did not post to this blog. Otherwise, all you would have heard about was my failed attempt at completing an online MBA course, my crazy-busy job, and my Online Dating escapades.

Alright, in other knitting news, I'm almost done w/the Rick Rack bag I'm making for my friend Deanna. She had seen mine, and was so taken with it, she requested one for herself. So, because I love her, I cast on...even had the colors she wanted in the stash! I've only got the handles left to do, so I'll be sure to do the whole "before" and "after" felting pics.

So, besides the 2 afore-mentioned on-going projects, I'm agitating to make hand-knit fishnet stockings. I've got 2 patterns, and 1 on the way, so once I get a pattern I really like, I'm casting on, baby. I'm going to order that new Knit Picks yarn Risata in Black. Won't that be soooo awesome?! I can't wait!

Alright, so I guess I'm back, baby! Let the knitting begin in earnest!

Online Dating

There will be no pictures in this post, so if you're looking for eye candy and/or inspiration, you would do well to move along at this point. If you're interested in pathetic tales of single-dom, please stay tuned.

First, I did get a chance to spin, and it was wonderful. I felt so guilty for neglecting my lovely Symphony for so long...I had actually forgotten I had bought a Woollee Winder for it. How lame is that? But it was, pardon the cliche, just like riding a bike, and I fell right into making my springy Blackbird yarn for my Rogue cardigan. I think I made about 90 yards, and am almost done with another bobbin of singles, so hopefully I'll have 2 finished skeins to show you next time. Then I have to prepare some more fiber. I'm this close to just using pre-made yarn for this project.

But I have started and made some progress on the Tie-Front Cardigan from the Vogue Holiday 06 issue. I'm making it in black Gloss from KnitPicks. It's a nice silk-merino blend, and I think this coat will be absolutely fantastic once I finish it. I'll show that to you in my next post as well.

But anyway, I recently subscribed to match.com, and let me tell you, it's an interesting world out there. I haven't dated at all anyway (I met my soon-to-be-ex when I was 18, and he was my first boyfriend), so it's all new to me. It's actually very overwhelming. I'm not putting too much hope into it, but it's kind of making me feel better because it's something I can actually "do" to help alleviate my feelings of being such a man-less loser. I might un-subscribe, but I'll be going out with a friend of mine tomorrow who has been on match.com for quite some time, so I'm going to pick her brain on how to navigate this stuff. Perhaps she'll renew my enthusiasm.

I'll keep you all posted....

Here there be dragons

Well, an eye-less dragon, but a dragon none-the-less...


I really enjoyed this pattern, and it was pretty quick to make. As I had mentioned in a previous post, the yarn from Morehouse Merino is absoulutely sinfully soft, and was nice to knit up.

I just need to block this bad boy, sew on the eyes, and tassel in the puffs of smoke in its nostrils. Because I'm sketchy on finishing, I probably won't actually have this done for a while, but I'm excited about it, so here it is.

In non-fibery news, I'm now 2-weeks post-op. The nurse has told me that I'm healing up very well, and a lot of my friends are surprised that I already came back to work this week, so I guess I'm doing well. I attended hula class last night, but only sat and did the hand movements half-heartedly. But even that little bit of activity left me sore, so I'm really impatient with this whole recovery process. My tummy is also still a little swollen, and the swelling gets worse as the day wears on, so that's really ticking me off, too. I just need to be patient, but that's never been one of my strong suits.

Anyway, this will be my child-less weekend, and I'm planning on doing some spinning. It's been so long, I hope I remember how to do it :-)

Post-Op

Well, I did the deed. The surgery went very well (i.e. I survived) and recovery continues apace.

My new rack is the perfect size...just a bit larger than they've been with my push-up padded bras, so there isn't a very obvious difference. Of course there is to me. The bummer is that for the next 3 weeks I've got to wear a tight strap across my chest which squeezes them together and pushes them down to help them drop into place. This means I'll have projectile boobies and no pretty bras till that's done. I have a feeling I might cheat and go strap-less a bit. I did some preliminary measurements, and it looks like I'm a 32 C. Woohoo!

The tummy tuck is another matter altogether. I look like Frankenstein down there, and the belly button is decidedly unsavory. But the tummy is AMAZING! I have a killer waist and I'm as flat as a board! 26 inches, baby! Of course, my scar is absolutely crazy-looking, but I'm applying some expensive scar cream in the hopes that it will eventually become less horrifying. For those of you who aren't squeamish, click here to see it 4 days post-op.

Anyway, I'm a lot more ambulatory, but I did get some knitting time in.

Here's that Fiesta Shawl I've been wanting to make for 6 years....Well, Blogger is up to its usual tricks, and it won't let me post pics. So, let's try this:


Alright, here she is. Isn't she lovely? This is the first time I've knit with rayon ribbon and mohair, and they are both tricky in their own little ways. Suffice it to say that winding ribbon is not my idea of a fun time. Right now, the thing causing me concern is the fact that I've already run out of 1 skein of Gelato. It seems that the shawl isn't even half done, and I still have fringe to do. Of course, the shawl is getting smaller, but I'm not sure it's getting smaller fast enough. Well, time will tell. Till then, I need to sew the beginning of the next ball to the end of this ball, but I've been too lazy to get out my needle & thread.

So, instead, I started this...

Look, I'm knitting a dragon tail! This is the Dragon Scarf Kit from Morehouse Merino. It was outrageously expensive for a scarf kit, I thought, but I LOVE dragons, and wouldn't this just be the coolest thing to wear while snowboarding?! But the yarn is fantastically soft and lofty and it'll be such a treat to have this soft dragon snuggling warmly against my neck. The pattern is fun and it really does look like a dragon, no? You gotta love knitting!

This is fun...

Yes, I do have a new project on the needles, and it involved cable-casting on 423 stitches! Talk about new and exciting ways to torture yourself! But the yarn is gorgeous, and I'll post a pic as soon as I make a significant amount of progress.

Until then, my time is being consumed by my anticipation for my surgeries next Friday. I'm excited, and apprehensive at the same time and I'm really NOT looking forward to the recovery period. Well, I'm trying to get as much advice as I can, but I know that my experience will all depend on me and my own reaction to the procedures. I'm just one of those people who has to do a bunch of research and get as much info as I can in order to feel somewhat at ease, even though it's mostly pointless. Of course, the most important part of my recovery perid will be the knitting projects I'll be working on...that is IF I'm able. I certainly hope so, and am planning accordingly.

Anyway, here's something fun to do...I think it was pretty accurate for me, because believe me, I've been low lately, and I REALLY need some attention and some outside affirmation from others. And I absolutely adore blue :-)

Your Power Color Is Indigo

At Your Highest: You are on a fast track to success - and others believe in you. At Your Lowest: You require a lot of attention and praise. In Love: You see people as how you want them to be, not as how they are. How You're Attractive: You're dramatic flair makes others see you as mysterious and romantic. Your Eternal Question: "Does This Work Into My Future Plans?"

What's Your Power Color?

Knitting on Google

Hey, if you get the chance today, go to Google.com. They've got 2 knitting kangaroos as part of their logo today! Very cute!!

Get your FO here!

Ladies & Gents, with absolutely no ado, here is my most recent Finished Object:


Yeah, I know the one pic is crooked, but I never said I was a wiz with the camera. But I'm really happy with the sweater, and it'll be even better once I break down and block it. Here are the specs for those of you who are interested in such things:
Pattern: "Woman's Cardigan" (such a catchy name), the cover sweater on the Fall 2006 "Knit Simple". Smallest size.
Modications: I shortened the body by 3" and lengthened the sleeves by 3". I also mirrored the cable twists on the fronts and the back, and made the center back cable a horseshoe-like cable which I also used down the sleeves.
Yarn: KnitPicks "Sierra" in the color "Tide". I really like this yarn as it is soft and thick and shows the stitches very well. However, there were an average of 2 knots in most of the skeins, and I was too lazy to deal with them correctly...you know, cut out the knot and splice the yarn ends. So, we'll see how that decision pans out for me. Oh, here's how much I had left...


This was such a quick knit that I really didn't have time to get tired of it. So, I've already wound the skeins for my next projects. Yes, I'm going to start two: One for mindless knitting, and the other for when I have time to concentrate. I figure I'm going to have some awesome knitting time on my hands while recovering from my surgery in less than 2 weeks. Also, I may be flying out to Hawaii at the end of this week for my grandfather's funeral, so that will also need a project. I'll let you know once things are "for sure".