Looking Back on These Things.

Well it certainly seems like such a long time since this blog has seen a new post. Free time hasn't been as abundant lately because I did in fact take a job in retail, and the only part of it that is satisfying is that it allows me to buy more yarn.

Anywho, enough about that. Today I have been looking back on all of the things I have learned about knitting since picking it back up about 6 months ago. Cables, lace, felting, fair isle. Kitchener stitch, mattress stitch, three-needle bind off, short rows. Provisional cast on, cable cast on, picking up stitches, yarn over, ssk. Button holes. Continental knitting. Even the goodness of natural fibers. These are all things I had no experience with until recently. And realizing how much I've learned is a good feeling.

When I started this blog, I mentioned my desire to move away from "beginning knitter" to an advanced skill level. Well, one thing was keeping me from feeling that I had reached that point. Looking at my Ravelry projects page, there were many small projects (hats, wrist warmers) and a couple of fun accessories (head bands, hand bags), but no actual garments. No sweaters. And what self-respecting knitter could call him/herself a knitter without having made at least one sweater?? Well, not me. A sweater was going to have to come off of my needles, and that was that.

Luckily, some of my lovely in-laws sent me some birthday money last month, and off to the LYS I went. The pattern in waiting was the ever-popular Central Park Hoodie. The plan was to get some lovely tweed or heathered yarn in a nice, warm, autumnal color. The plan was to avoid green because green is in excess in my wardrobe and home surroundings. Cascade 220 would be a nice choice. Well, the LYS did indeed have a selection of 220. Many different colors, but very few skeins of each. I needed 6 skeins of the same dye lot. Turned out that 6 skeins of Cascade 220 in the same dye lot were only available in light green. *Shrugs* Such is life. I purchased the green yarn and immediately went home to begin work.

Central Park Hoodie as written is worked in several different pieces and sewn together. This was daunting at first. Seaming is no friend of mine. But I figured what the heck, the practice would be good. So I made the separate pieces, did a crap load of mattress stitch, sewed on some buttons, and voila!! A sweater was made!













Oh, how I loves it :) My very first sweater.