Project Report 26.34: A Flurry of Finishes

I finished off so many things this week, I think I might be the knitting mafia.

As you saw last week, I only had half a sleeve to go on my roommate's birthday sweater. I was able to finish that on Thursday night and get it washed before the weekend. 

In case I hadn't mentioned it before, this sweater was self-drafted based on the measurements of a storebought sweatshirt. To customize it to its recipient, I created a "pocket slot" on one side so that he can wear the sweater over a button down shirt and still access the items in the shirt's breast pocket. I'm also gifting it with the promise that if he doesn't wear it as a sweater, the sleeves can be removed and I can work an i-cord edging around the armholes to make it a vest, which is definitely something he'll wear.

This sweater came together in about six weeks, largely due to the yarn. I used worsted weight Berroco Comfort in "Driftwood Heather" and size US 7 (4.5mm) needles. Since I rarely work at such a large gauge, I amused myself by cranking out inches of buttery smooth fabric in a relatively short time. All said and done, this worked out to be 690g or 1450 yards.

 

In great contrast, my second finished object was an absolute slog.

I am pleased to announce that I finally, at long last, with great weeping and gnashing of teeth, finished my Untimely sweater.

I started this project in May as a self-drafted dupe for Libby Jonson's Timely Cardigan. This sweater followed me around all summer, and at the beginning, I didn't mind. I did a fair bit of fighting with the yarn in order to get the gradient to work up the way I wanted, but other than that, the knitting itself was pretty smooth sailing.

Until the button band.

At first, I worked a 1x1 ribbed button band, because that looked like what was used in my inspiration sweater. Then -- for some unknown, godforsaken reason -- I decided that wasn't good enough and I was going to work my first double-knit button band. On a fingering weight sweater.

This was a terrible idea. Would not recommend.

After losing all steam and letting this WIP languish for several weeks, I finally kicked my butt into gear. I placed markers every 20 stitches so I could convince myself I was making some kind of progress on what felt like an eternal strip of stitches. I also took it out onto the porch and left it there, partly as a punishment, but partly to trick myself into working on it in small spurts with my morning coffee or sitting outside after dinner.

Somehow, eventually, I finished it. 

And you know what? I think it looks pretty snazzy.

 As if that weren't enough productivity, I also made a sock.

This is an Easy Peasy sock from Kroopa Knits. Earlier this year, I made the Easy Peasy cowl and I've had the socks on my to-knit list ever since.

Unfortunately, I think this particular sock is destined for the frog pond.

I used Cascade Cherub, which is a fully synthetic "sock" yarn with zero stretch whatsoever. The combination of unstretchy yarn and unstretchy colorwork means this sock doesn't fit quite right on an actual foot. I haven't decided yet if I'll redo the  Easy Peasy pattern, or look for something similar, or try this yarn in a single-color sock instead. For now, this sock is a decorative reminder that I have another colorwork project to focus on.

That's right, one of my two remaining projects is a stranded colorwork cowl. I'm not going to talk about it here, though, because its getting its own miniseries on the blog.

My final work in progress is the Alberta Sunshine top, which I am still loving, but that got a wee bit neglected this week.

Since I'm on the stockinette portion, it doesn't look like I've done anything of note on this piece, but I am surprisingly close to starting the bottom detailing. I imagine we'll have moved on to sleeves by next week's update.

 

Have you finished anything lately? Do you have any languishing WIPs that seem to refuse to be finished? I'd love to hear about them!