Caramel Swirl revealed

Finally - the much promised pictures of my Caramel Swirl Cardigan! These were taken by a friend at work during our morning break, and maybe not as good as the pictures that my really nice boyfriend takes - but I've been wanting to show this off, especially after all the moaning about this project that I've done on this blog.

I started this on Labor Day weekend, on our one-year anniversary - on our lovely relaxing trip up to Lake Tahoe. I had this lovely handspun yarn that I call Caramel Swirl (1 ply each of fawn alpaca/camel down/tussah silk/angora-wool).

Basically I decided that I wanted a fairly plain cardigan that I could wear to work, with a deep ribbing, so I did a gauge swatch, did some math, and cast on. Knit in a 3x1 rib back and forth in one piece. There's a garter stitch edging on the fronts which have a knit-on i-cord border. Knit the sleeves with a deep 3x1 ribbing, and joined at the armpits.

My initial thoughts were that I wanted a saddle shouldered cardigan (I haven't done one of those yet). But reading the directions in EZ's Knitting Workshop called for doing decreases every third round - I knit this back and forth, and couldn't quite wrap my head around how to make the decreases match up on the purl rows, so just caved and knit a standard raglan.

Then of course, I lost the last ball of yarn that I spun for it, and waited for a while to see if it would reappear. It didn't. So I had to spin some more yarn to finish it.

My next huge hurdle came with the collar - I looked and looked all over the net, and my own knitting library for a solution that would work. I had a general idea of what I wanted, and just couldn't find it anywhere! So finally after a couple of weeks of dithering, I punted. I just cast on, and knit. It's a sideways garter stitch edging, with short rows thrown in - for a kind of flared edging.

Here's a better pic of the back so you can see how it came out.

I found some buttons at Joanne's that I actually sewed on. (That's a big deal for me, There have been sweaters that have waited for over a year for buttons - not kidding.) I've decided that these buttons aren't quite right, I mean, they're OK - but not fantabulous, so I went back to Joanne's and picked up some really pretty buttons that I do believe will be Just Right. Though I haven't had a chance to sew them on yet. Or gotten a pretty pic of the buttons themselves.


My general verdict on this sweater - I love it. I've worn it the last three days. It's good for work-wear. It's warm, it's soft, it's comfy... what more can I ask for?

In other news. I finished spinning up all 8 ozs of the Kid Mohair/Merino blend from the last post. And I've started spinning the silk that I dyed last weekend. I'm still debating whether I will do a 3 or 4 ply (definitely 2 plies of the Kid Mohair/Merino) and one or two plies of the silk. I've only got a smidge on a bobbin of the silk so far, but oh - is it nice to spin!

Oh - and my job interview yesterday? I thought it went tremendously well. I was there for 2 hours, and met with three people - the manager was in the middle of a few crises, so I had to wait a bit for her - but I think it's a very good sign that I actually got the opportunity to interview with her while I was there. I will hear back at the beginning of next week, and my fingers are even more firmly crossed now, than they were before the interview. Though I am trying my best not to count any chickens, if you know what I mean.

Also, it was my sweet baby girl's 20th birthday yesterday. We are planning on doing lunch together on Saturday. How in the world has this happened? She's a very wonderful young lady, and I just love her so much, but 20? Sigh - I guess I'm getting old.

Tomorrow of course, is Thanksgiving. we're going to my mom's house, and then my BBE's sister's house for 2 dinners. I'm looking forward to seeing my little nephew Zane - he just had his first birthday a couple of weeks ago. And how did that happen? Seems like there's just no way it could have been a whole year ago that he arrived! I understand that he is quite a chunk. I will be sure to get pics for gratuitous cute baby pictures to post.

I hope everyone that celebrates has a wonderful Thanksgiving! I'm sooo looking forward to having 4 days off. I'm hoping to be productive and get some spinning and knitting in - I need to start my Christmas knitting, and there's about 5 (or more like 20) different projects that I'd like to start for myself.... Too many projects/Not enough time!

And here's one more of the back view of the sweater.