When a sweater is a home

I was so good for a while, wasn't I? Blogging three, sometimes four, times a week. Pictures almost every time. And then all of a sudden a week went by. And it wasn't until the weekend that I realized that I hadn't blogged.

Well, if it is any consolation, I've completely given up on exercising and making my own lunch. And let's just say Jimmy John's every day and no jogging has made it so I can only wear one pair of pants anymore.

Since it was Sunday night when I decided to write a blog post, I had to use what I have. So I'm going to tell you all about my at home project.

I always have one. It's become a habit of mine. When you work at a yarn store, people are always jealous about all of your knitting time. But sometimes your knitting time isn't your own. There are examples that need knitting (new yarns, classes) and customers often pay me to finish their projects (I am not naming names--you purchase loyalty along with my mattress stitch!), not to mention that sometimes, with all the working that's going on, there really isn't a whole lot of knitting time.

My at home project is my monogamous personal project. It's what I knit when I'm watching TV. It's what I bring over to friend's houses and sometimes to the bar. It's what my dog sleeps on when I leave it on the couch. So that's why, when I all of a sudden show up to the shop with a sweater nobody has seen, it's not because I'm fast, it's because I'm loyal.

Anyway, I've had this Cotton Glace forever. I actually bought it from Handknitter's in Middletown to make Stella's Blouse from Spring 2004 Interweave Knits (rav link). Even then, I was terrible about following directions, so this was my effort to make a sweater the Right Way. I would use the same needles, make a gauge swatch, block--I was doing it all!

You think you know what happened, but you don't. I made the sweater. I finished it. I wore it around a few times. But then I thought, "You know, this isn't really my style." And I frogged it. (You gotta remember, this was before the days that I owned a yarn store. I was a teacher with a meager yarn stash!)

I thought about making the Lucky: Clover Lace Wrap from Stitch N Bitch Nation (rav link), but I only got a few inches into it (below). And then the yarn sat in a basket for the next few years. Homeless.

But then I saw this pattern in the new Rowan magazine.

I only needed two skeins of the red for the trim (isn't it funny how stash busting always requires new yarn?) But I think this one is a keeper.

Whew! How's that for posting? I think I'm good until at least Wednesday!