Update on the 30 Day Sweater

Obviously I'm running a bit behind. I could give you a whole series of excuses, but that would be tedious and boring. I will only say that there was a wedding of sorts, and then a couple of holidays, and life just happened. When life gets chaotic, I crave stockinette, in-the-round, gauge-free, don't-make-me-think projects.  

So, I am nowhere close to finished with this sweater, but I've learned a lot and I'm not giving up. If you can remember all the way back to October, you will know that I decided to knit the Lollipop Cardigan by Vera Sanon using Milky Way in colorway Nimbus. 

I was pretty concerned about the shoulders, that was a completely new thing for me, but look how nicely they're coming out!

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Through some clever construction techniques, I get the look of set in shoulders without needing to do all that seaming. As an added bonus, once I get to the point where I can separate my sleeves from the body, I should be able to try it on. 

I've worked enough rows of the beading and lace to feel pretty comfortable with all the stitches. I still don't consider this a travel project, but once the beading is done I might be willing to reconsider. 

Do you have any projects  you're dying to finish, but just can't seem to find the time? 

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.