Happy New Sweater!

(I'm not a minimalist; I've been working my way through a list of things to do on this holiday, and "hang pictures in hallway" is next on the list!)

Technically the last FO of 2006, I present to you the finished saddle-shoulder sweater. I used five balls of Patons Classic Wool in "deep olive" (colour 205) (this yarn pills, but I love it anyway), 4.0mm needles, and numbers and percentages from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Without Tears. Before blocking, the sweater was pretty snug -- a size too small, really -- but the magic of blocking evened everything out and made it fit perfectly. I didn't even pull or pin anything while blocking, just smoothed out the sweater and let it dry flat.

I think the saddle shoulders are flattering for a narrow-shouldered body like mine -- the saddles make my shoulders look broader than they really are. All of the edges (bottom, cuffs, neck) are hemmed, which is easy to do and which results in nice flat edges.


Plus the hems let you add a contrasting colour in a non-obvious way; nobody else might ever notice it, but it will make you happy when you're putting on your sweater. My CC is an old ball of blue Patons Classic that I thrifted.


So, a sweater success. With its olive colour and saddle shoulders, it looks a bit military. It's plain, but a good basic layer for winter. It won't be bulky under my coat. EZ's version is seamless, but I knit the sleeves flat, since I was getting ladders knitting them in the round on DPNs. I also did fewer decreases in the sides than were called for, since I knew the sweater would be fitted; I'm pretty straight through the torso, so I didn't want it to be tight around the middle.

In that last photo, the sweater is sitting on my latest thrift-store purchase. I did a quick shop on December 30 and picked up a nice old wooden chair (from a school?) for $7.99.


(Also on that to-do list: deal with the Christmas recycling.)

And now it's new year's day. Bill and I made our semi-traditional breakfast resembling eggs Benedict: toast (rye with caraway seeds) and poached eggs, smothered in Hollandaise sauce. Now we're on the couch, lazy, our bellies filled with butter, wearing jammies and watching Band of Brothers on the history channel. Maybe I'll get up in a bit and hang some pictures, but you know what? Maybe I won't! Whatever you're up to, I hope you're having a nice day. And of course I hope 2007 is a wonderful year for you.

One more thing: today is Brainylady's fourth birthday! I started this blog on new year's day in 2003, in my bedroom in my Taipei apartment. There have been a lot of changes since then, both in my life and in the knitblogging world. Along the way, I've had so much support from readers, and I've so enjoyed maintaining my little corner of the Internet here. Thanks for coming over, and for being so sweet and funny and inspiring and encouraging. You make this really fun.