Halfway through the month, half a sleeve knit

My knitting would be going along much more quickly if I wasn't stopping every few rows to try on my sleeve. It just fits so perfectly! 

I'm finding Maeve to be an ideal pattern for my first garment. I am able to try it on at most points of its creation, so I will be able to make any modifications necessary without needing much in the way of experience or calculation. Holding the Breeze and Oasis together is creating the most amazing, luscious fabric. At this gauge the fabric is pleasantly dense without being too heavy, and will only become softer with time. 

As promised in my earlier post, I'm embracing the imperfection of handmade. I did not rip my cuff out for the fourth (fifth?) time to fix the garter stitch; I went forward with the pattern and kept adding more knit rows between the purl rows instead.

Maeve was the perfect choice for my first sweater. What pattern and yarn did you choose for your first sweater? Was it a good choice? Visit our Ravelry group for more discussion!

Day 6

Where did the weekend go? Day 6 is here and I'm only 2 days into actual knitting on my 30 day sweater. I chose to knit Lollipop Cardigan by Vera Sanon using Milky Way in Nimbus. Vera is one of my favorite sweater designers of all time, and I've been in love with this cardigan since the first day I saw it and tried on the sample. I've known since that moment I had to have one of my own.

Of course, I've never knit a sweater before. So far it's been great, tricky, but great. That doesn't mean I'm not a little nervous about a couple of the new (to me) techniques. I swatched like crazy. I'm a loose knitter and I really want this to fit properly, so swatching was a must for me. Not that swatching is really new, just um, rare.  

So, what actually is new for me?

Beads. I've never beaded any knitting before. How can a person knit for 5 years and never bead anything? I'll let you know how it goes. (Note to self: Buy beads.)

Contiguous sleeves. What does that even mean? Well, it means the shoulders look like set in sleeves, even though it's seamless and knit top down. It also means that after 2 days of knitting and a couple provisional cast-ons later, I have about 7 ends to weave in. SEVEN. Yay! (Really, yay! I love finishing.) Even if you are one of those knitters that hates weaving ends, I have a feeling this is going to be worth it. I mean, I've tried on the sample and it was so perfect. How could it not be worth it?

My theme for the month: Go big or go home! Check back soon to see how I'm doing. Feel free to offer tips, suggestions, advice, or your favorite chocolate to eat after throwing your knitting across the room in the comments below.