Progress

I have the first button hole made, as well as the first set of side decreases. That is progress, right? Slow, but progress nevertheless. After all, I've used up two full balls of ALaFloss Lopi already. May I take this opportunity to congratulate Holly on her speedy finishing of her March Sweater Madness sweater. Great job, Holly!

May I also state that I am quite disappointed that no one else has joined us this year. There is still time, ladies.

Ta ......DAH!

Might I introduce the Drops Cardigan.




Knit in Brunswick Impressions - Hawaii Ombre it look a bit more than two skeins of the wool and almost exactly two of the mohair. On 8mm needles it went rather quickly.

As long as I keep the sweater here in the UK, it might remain mine. Should it travel to Germany, there is atleast one daughter who is going to make a grab. Since I might be able to distract her with hot pink, I might just have a prayer.

I am still thinking about taking a stab at the other sweater, it seems so lovely.

-Holly

Stuck

There I was, just motoring along..... I got to here



Body - check
right sleeve - check
left sleeve - oops - I have plenty of mohair, but the rest of the wool? I left it in Germany for my DH to mail out to me. That won't happen till Sat. I won't see it till earliest Thurs...

I would like to say that I am gentle and kind, leaving plenty of time for Barb to catch up and surpass me. But we all know better, I just didn't realize exactly how much of each skein I had tossed aside because of the m*ths.

-Holly

Half way home

I got to the split for the armholes, worked up the back


and then both fronts. After binding off the shoulders,



I realize that I am over halfway done with the sweater. Just sleeves and the collar to go.

Besides Barb and myself - who else is playing?

-Holly

Back to the Drawing Board

Admittedly, a swatch might have helped.

I ripped everything out, almost two 100g balls worth, did some cyphering, and cast on 80 stitches less. After a couple false starts I made a decent start on the ribbing. At least it will go faster now with so many fewer stitches.

Finally Started

I chose the first Drops jacket with the cables, and I'm using Alafloss Lopi. I'm hoping the fit will work since I laughed in the face of the swatch. I cast on last night and finished the required ribbing, and today started the cables. I've already worked through an entire 100g ball of wool. Small wonder with 260 stitches on the needles. But I love the fact that there will be so little finishing.

Progress

Ok, I am in. Nothing like starting a new project to help you avoid everything already on the needles.

I went with the second jacket - and pulled some Impressions in Hawaii colorway out of the stash. Since I don't have anything even remotely like bulky around, I am taking a strand of the wool along with a strand of the mohair. The double moss looks rather nice and I like the color variations.


Since I am not one for sewing things together - I am knitting in one piece to the arms.





Going through security at Frankfurt (both outer and the second right before the flight to the UK) there was no issue with needles and wool. What was of concern was my flashlight.

Go figure.

Off to The Races

Here are the choices for this year's KAL:

DROPS jacket in ”Alaska” with cables, raglan sleeves and hood

DROPS jacket in ”Eskimo” or ”Silke-Alpaca” with A-shape and ¾-long or long sleeves

Valpuri - form fitting T with a split neckline and cap sleeves, knit in an eye-appealing variety of cable stitches

All three patterns use larger gauge to make the knitting go a little bit faster, with varied difficulty level to suit a variety of skill levels. The Drops patterns have alternative yarn suggestions. Personally, I plan on stash diving to find something suitable. As much as I hate it, I guess that will mean swatching.

As there are only two of us, so far, that will be participating, I am thinking of a small yarn and/or accessories swap instead of a prize for the first one to complete their sweater. If more members participate, perhaps we could give out a prize based on votes for best fitting sweater. Sweaters still need to be finished and ready to wear by March 31st. More info to follow, and, as always, please post any suggestions in the comments.

I hate to bother you, Michelle, but is there a way to inform all previous participants of this year's March Sweater Madness without sending individual emails?

Happy Knitting!
Happy March Sweater Madness!

Another Year of Madness??

Understandably, this site has been very quiet for the past few months, but it is March once again. Are any of you interested in a third year of Madness??

I, for one, would sure like to make this an annual event. Although our intrepid leader Michelle is not available to guide us (it's my understanding that she's out of the country at the moment), perhaps we could still make a go of it. I just got back from a 5-week vacation, and although we're already into March with none of the preliminaries in place, I believe there is still time to get this Madness rolling and complete a sweater by the time the 31st gets here.

If any of you are interested, perhaps you could leave a message in the comments by 6pm EST on Wednesday, March 4th and state your preferred yarn weight and style, and provide a link to any specific pattern. At this late date, I believe patterns available for free from online sources would work best due to our limited time.

I am looking forward to all your suggestions and ideas.