More Sweater Updates!

Last night I finished the body of my February Lady Sweater (rav link)! Now I only have to work the sleeves, weave in the ends, block it a bit to open up the lace and we're all set. Hooray!

The pattern calls to bind off with a size 10 needle (entire sweater was worked in a size 8 needle). I couldn't figure out why, but since I am using my Harmony Interchangeable set, I just swapped the right needle up to a size 10, and the bind off row is very neat and even. I'm not sure if that's what the author intended but it certainly worked well!

I don't have much else to update, so I have a few pictures of the sweater.

Close-up of the lace pattern:

Please excuse my awesome Dazed and Confused Derby Days shirt:

My Autumn Red Lace Scarf is coming along quite nicely as well. I work 1-2 repeats at a time since I'm clearly not in the market for a scarf anytime soon (knock on wood). I am definitely going to have to attempt to block this though, since the lace pattern is beautiful but is not showing up as is right now!

However, to take a break from the sweater and scarf (and to do something that isn't in a shade of red!), I did my first Mermaid pattern (The Mermaid Surfaces) and it is so pretty! When I get around to dyeing that bare yarn I have, I want to make a Traveling Woman (rav link) and it uses that pattern. I don't have a picture yet of my Mermaid Surfaces because I want to block it first.

Going along with my Mermaid pattern, I've also decided I want to do two things: 1- Knit down my cotton stash (it is a bit out of control), and 2- stop buying any sort of store bought dish cloths. So, in an effort to knit down my cotton stash, I'm working on making lots more dish cloths for use around my house. I love making dish cloths, but it never really occurred to me to use them for things aside from dish cloths and face cloths - but the other day I used one to clean my sink, wipe down the stove, etc etc etc. If I have a large stash, then I can use them for just about anything, and consequently knitting down my stash. :) I started by doing a standard Grandmother's Favorite in Peaches & Creme Aztec (a fun color of purple, brown and green!). So, we'll see how that goes...we're going to be moving soon so any amount of time I can spend knitting down stash means less boxes to move. :)