FO: February Lady

I'm finally posting about my finished February Lady. Because of color difficulties (see saga in previous posts), this beautiful sweater ended up being a "vest." Instead of knitting the sleeves as directed, I did a few rounds of crochet.

I am completely in love with the way the body turned out and totally wish it had sleeves but it just wasn't meant to be.

Pattern: "February Lady Sweater" by Pamela Wynne
Source: Ravelry [link]
Started: November 14, 2008
Finished: February 8, 2009
Modifications: Made into a vest.
Size: XXS (35")
Yarn: 3 skeins [100% Merino Wool; 216 yds per 3.5 oz skein] of Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted in #99 - "Stone Blue" (color "15 02 04")
Needles: US #7
Gauge: 4 sts/inch in stockinette. Yarn label says 4-5 sts/in on US 7-9

I'm wearing February Lady today and am very pleased with it. The drape is amazing! And I'm so happy with how the seams turned out--you can't even tell where they are. I think I may knit this pattern again (with a yarn that is not hand-dyed), complete with sleeves.

Above: "Look! No seams!" and a close up

February Lady update

Isn't she beautiful so far? I've been knitting the back and the fronts separately (Is that what you're supposed to do with this pattern? If not, I'll just have sturdier seams than everyone else!) and now the back and one of the fronts is finished.

I was so happy to see that I have plenty of yarn left over to finish up the left front so that's what I'm working on now.

I haven't decided yet whether to make February Lady a vest or short-sleeved or 3/4-sleeved. I guess I'll have to see how far my yarn goes and how close of a match the extra ball is. For the record, the the extra ball looks *much* closer than the ball that came with the original purchase but it's not quite perfect. We'll see.

Look what came in today's mail

Okay, so Green Gable arrived a couple of weeks ago. But the others arrived today!! I'm totally excited.

I've had my eye on Ursa for a while now and finally broke down and ordered the Berroco pattern book, Ultra Alpaca & Ultra Alpaca Light. It's the only project in there that I really like but that's okay.

Berroco: Norah Gaughan Vol. 3 is another story entirely. I *love* Eastlake (the reason I bought the book), Calvert, and Cire-Perdue. I also like Loppem, Assemblage, and Eastscarf. Linear is kind of nice too but I can't picture myself wearing it...

Let the race begin

I'm going to be an aunt!! I found out a while ago now and have been looking for the perfect baby blanket pattern to knit for the occasion. It's been kind of hard because (a) my sister isn't going to find out whether she's having a girl or boy, (b) she said she doesn't want to get a ton of green and yellow stuff at her shower, and (c) I want to make something that suits her tastes. My mother assures me that she'll like anything I knit for her, but I want to make something that she would like if she saw it on the street, ya know?



After weighing my many options, I finally decided on a blanket that you'll be able to follow on my Ravelry page. I'm afraid my sister might actually look at my blog since we recently talked about it so I'm not going to post any details just now (I almost didn't even post the yarn because I want her to be completely surprised...but oh well). I originally wanted to use the same machine-washable wool I used to knit Dublin because I knew that it stood up well to heavy use, but since it's going to be a summer baby I thought cotton was more appropriate.

I chose to buy worsted weight yarn rather than the DK weight yarn called for in the pattern. The color, Sea Foam, should work well for either a boy or a girl and reminds me of the water in the Caribbean even though you can't see it so well in these pictures. The pattern is classic and the blanket should be highly usable. After looking through tons of patterns and asking my mom and my husband for their input, I chose something completely different so I hope it's well received!

Editor's note: Pattern changed three times since my "decision" and I hope everyone likes it!