Sweater finished! On to next project.

Merry Christmas!!!

I finished my Chocolate Diamond sweater earlier in the week and as promised in my last post, I wore it to work one day and an open house for Maternity Homes of Fox Valley later that evening. I also wore it to my father's house for our family Christmas celebrations. Unfortunately, we have been getting some unseasonably warm weather this December, so the sweater didn't stay on too long. It certainly is a WARM sweater.

It was fun to wear it to the event for MHFV. Some of the other attendees had seen me working on the sweater and were appreciative of the finished results. It is always nice to have people pay attention.

I have been working on a new project the last couple of days. A pair of wrist warmers for work. My desk sits next to a window in a  year old building and the cold air rushes down off the window and across the desk. Wrist warmers will go a long way to making my hands stay warm. I am just winging the pattern as I just wanted to get started. After making a quick sample with yarn to get my gauge. I am just knitting up a plain stocking stitch with ribbed top and bottom.

I am using Washable Ewe yarn from Red Heart (Coats and Clark). It is a 100% super wash wool in a bright pink colorway called "icing". I actually think "bubblegum" when I see the color.

This wool has a sheen and feels slick when running through my fingers. It took awhile to adjust to the slipperiness of the yarn after working with the Wool of the Andes bulky that I used for my Chocolate Diamonds sweater.  I actually had to wrap it around my pinky finger three times before I could control the yarn.

I am going to work a peasant thumb as I did with my Convertible Mittens. This time, however, I did not make quite as wide an opening as I did with the Convertible Mittens so I should not have to do the emergency surgery with the Kitchener stitch.  As you can see from the picture, I have make pretty good progress and am on the ribbing on the wrist. I am planning to knit about 8 inches of ribbing so that when I wear 3/4 length sleeves it will keep my lower arms warm too.

I am also planning my next sweater. I have chosen an open jacket type sweater which I will fill you in on next time. I am looking at possible yarns -- I am thinking a silk/wool blend as I would like a smooth sheen to the fabric.

Happy knitting!!!!