At Long Last, Knitting

I swear, there really is knitting still going on around here, I just haven't posted about it in months because the main thing I was working on was a gift for an occasional reader of the blog. (Well, the recipient's father is an occasional reader of the blog. The actual recipient doesn't read yet.) The gift has finally been mailed, and although I am still waiting for confirmation that it has arrived, I feel safe in posting photos.
So here it is:

Pocket detail with cute leafy buttons:

Back vent detail with alternating cute leafy buttons and boring grey buttons because Jo-Ann's ran out of cute leafy buttons:

I am quite proud of this sweater. The actual knitting was fun. It was done in many small sections with enough seed stitch to keep it interesting, but not enough to make me nuts. I also liked learning how to do the double-knitted channel for the draw cord, but the finishing was crazy-making. Seaming is no big deal for me, but attaching the hood and the zipper was like slogging through mud.
Now it is done and I hope that my niece, and eventually her little sister, will be able to wear and enjoy it.

The details: Meg parka from Junior Knits by Debbie Bliss. The yarn is Pakucho Organic Cotton in Avocado. (The photos don't do it justice. It's a lovely green that should deepen with washing.)
I did the 6-8 yr. old size, even though my niece is only four, because I knew the yarn would shrink and because it will be at least a few more months before it's cool enough in Washington DC for her to wear it.


This is another project I started when the finishing of the Meg sweater got to be too much for me. This yarn is very pretty and soft, and at first I wanted to hoard all I could find since it is discontinued, but now I'm beginning to think it doesn't have quite enough stretch for socks. I think these socks will feel great in the morning, but sag around my ankles and down into my Crocs by afternoon.

When I got bored knitting on DPNs, I started knitting a Tubey sweater, but now I've reached the part where this is knit on DPNs, so I might need another project. Although my plan is to mix up the knitting on this sweater, so hopefully I can stave off boredom. I'm not sure if I'll have enough yarn, so I plan to knit a few inches of each sleeve, then do the body, then come back and make the sleeves as long as I can until I run out of yarn. I think this sweater would look cool with sleeves ending just above the elbow. Mostly I am just excited to have found a project that seems to work with this yarn. This poor Morehouse Merino has been knit and frogged so many times that I wasn't sure it would hold up, but it's doing fine, just a little pilly. It's still really soft and I think it's going to be a good match for this pattern.