Christmas Anyone?

Several weeks ago I joined an Intarsia Pillow KAL (and yes, I am capitalizing it) in LSSK. I chose the small Santa pillow. I really had a struggle getting through all those dangling ends and getting the wrapping just right. But by the last 1/4, I was actually enjoying it. Now, all I have left is the back and the stuffing....




I think that I will knit the back in the green in seed stitch. I really don't like doing seed stitch but I love the end product.

PVC Yarn Swift and a FO

Let's just get this out there first. DH made this for me a few weeks ago and I think he did a wonderful job. We used the basic plan from The House at Two Palms so we can't take credit for design. Mostly, I was trying to find a project for him that would get him out of my hair for a day or two. Well, that was a total failure because he needed my input on the design and when all was said and done he had it made in less than 4 hours and that included an hour and a half trip to town to purchase the washers and a few other things. Oh well.

Anyway, I used it today and wound my blue yarn from Plain & Fancy Sheep & Wool Co on it. And I took a picture for you of one of the finished balls, but then I accidentally erased the picture from my camera. Oops! I used the instructions from Knits With Balls for winding the center pull ball and it worked great! Highly recommend it.

So, I cast on today for the third time and the Moss & Ribs Cardigan using my newly balled lovely yarn. I really, really hope that it goes smoothly this time. I have new lovely matching yarn and am using size 4 and 5 needles which I have swatched with and they should work great. And best of all...I've done this pattern so many times now that I totally have it memorized. Yee Haw! I should've taken a picture of my progress but I didn't so I'll just tell you that I've done about 3" of the back. And just to add a little pressure to myself...I sort of promised to bring the finished sweater to Kid N Ewe in November (early November if I remember correctly) to show Grayce who was so sweet to work with me and my possibly OCD behavior regarding her lovely yarn. Which I totally love!

I finished the Leaf T today and I really like it. It is blocking right now. I tried it on unblocked and was really tempted not to block it because it fit really well. But everything I have read says that everything benefits from blocking. So...blocking it is.
You can probably see that I added some shaping to this sweater. Hopefully it will look less lumpy when I'm wearing it than it does in this pic.

I really enjoyed knitting this sweater. Want to know why? Of course, you do! Well, for one thing I used the rest of the cone of Jaggerspun Zephyr DK yarn from Mom's Featherweight Fantasy. I mean I used all but like 10 yards. I think that is so cool! And, I knitted it in the round which was a huge accomplishment for me. I have absolutely hated and avoided all things knit in the round in the past because I always ended up with these open stitches where they weren't joined properly. On this sweater I just tugged pretty hard for the first two or three stitches at the join and voila! it looks really good. Ok, another fun thing is how easy it was. Almost boring but great for knitting anywhere, anytim. And last but not least...I knitted the sleeves using two circs which was totally awesome. No seams baby!!