Sunday, November 13, 2011

Sweaters, sweaters everywhere

I am almost done with the 11 Sweaters in 2011... I can hardly believe it! I finished the Estelle cardigan, not sure if I blogged about it. I haven't taken pictures of it, or even sewed on the buttons yet! The impending 11 Sweaters deadline, NaKniSweMo, and a long list of xmas knitting have taken precedence. That was sweater #9, and I just kept plowing along.

Before I even finished Estelle, I had cast on a sweater for my mother-in-law for Christmas. In my weightloss, I shrank out of most of the sweaters I had knit for myself, and passed them on to my mom. It just wasn't fair for my mother-in-law. So I brought over a stack of patterns and she picked out the Berry and Bramble cardigan from Fall 2009's Interweave Knits. Let me tell you, that thing was a beast. I didn't have much of any bobble experience before this pattern, so I didn't realize knitting an entire sweater in a bobble pattern would take for freaking ever. It was just a slog. What kept me plugging away was the knowledge that I could knit a dozen of these for my MIL and that would only measure up to a fraction of all she's done for me, let alone for Brian and I as a couple. My MIL ROCKS.

Still needs a single-button closure sewn on.
So sweater #10 is done! (yarn is SW Cascade 220, btw)

I have participated in National Knit a Sweater Month (aka NaKniSweMo) for a couple of years now, and thought it would be the perfect way to wrap up my year of sweaters. I had originally picked the Zick Zack tunic from my queue, because I was desperate to use the Bittersweet Woolery lace yarn I bought from Tina on our Rhinebeck trip. Unfortunately, my practical side won out and I realized knitting a knee-length laceweight sweater the month before xmas might make me homicidal. I picked the Greenfield cardigan instead. It's coming along nicely, especially now that my MIL's sweater is done. About 6 rows from dividing the sleeves from the body:

I'm even being a "good" knitter and alternating skeins. The yarn is a handpainted merino/mohair blend from Decadent Fibers, purchased at Rhinebeck. This will be my final sweater of the 2011 challenge, and I admit I'm already plotting my scheme for 2012!

In between all these sweaters, I've managed to hammer out a few smaller xmas gifts for family as well. These lucky recipients are also blog readers/fb friends so no pictures here!

I did get a picture of 2011 Sweater #7, the Falling Stars steeked cardigan that my awesome MIL got me as a kit for xmas last year:


 Hooray for sweaters!

2 comments:

  1. All your sweaters look so great! Wonderful job. Are you plotting more sweaters next year or something else?

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  2. Look at you go! I'm in awe of your beautiful sweaters.

    ReplyDelete