Ringing in the New Year

My ears are still ringing at least.  Five of Luke's friends came over to our house for a New Year's Eve party.  It was about as loud as I expected but they didn't eat as much as I expected.  I had made mounds of food and now have half a mound of leftovers.  For one thing, I made a double loaf of garlic bread from scratch.  While it looks pretty, it wasn't edible.  I didn't cook it long enough and the center was doughy and raw.  Oh well, I'll know better next time.

But fun?  Oh man! These were great kids, very open, funny and with a lot of heart.  I can't imagine a better way to welcome 2010.

Thank you for all the well wishes regarding my illness.  It wasn't too bad and it did encourage me to rest and take it easy.  I got quite a bit of knitting done and here it is.

The pattern is a free one from Drops Designs, but I modified it to work it from the top down.  I started with a cabled cast on, and worked the yoke essentially as written, except upside down which means reading the pattern backwards.  Sounds confusing, but it wasn't so bad.

The benefit of top down is trying it on and I have, several times, which resulted in some ripping.  I required more stitches cast on under the arm for the sleeves and a different rate of decrease in the sleeves.  But it's all good because the sleeves are now exactly right for me and my shape. 

After the sleeves, I tackled the neckband which took two tries.  The first time I picked up stitches, I did so right in the cabled cast on which left holes. I kept knitting thinking the ribbing would pull it in.  I kept knitting in spite of the little voice that told me it was not good enough.  I was almost finished the ribbing before I finally listened and ripped it back to start over.  I'm glad I did because now I'm in love with the finished result.

You can't tell from looking at it that the knitting is going in opposite directions, can you?

Moving on to the body of the sweater, I started with a set of 12 (or more) short rows to allow for my bust.  Now I'm working plain stockinette for a good long while.  Working fingering weight yarn on 3.25mm needles is not a speedy process.  It's great movie knitting though.

I hope your New Year is filled with a happy noise and lots of beautiful knitting too.