Cropped Sweater Jacket - FINALLY!

Oh my gosh, I am so so happy to be done with this. I have actually lost sleep over getting this thing done. It would have been finished a couple of weeks ago, but some last minute Christmas knitting slowed me down. Anyway, it's done and I am so happy with the results. This is the first time I have ever carried an idea through to completion and been so happy with what I came up with.

I won't lie, I used some help from Norah Gaughn's Tilted Duster. As a matter of fact, I used enough of her pattern that I feel like I would be violating copyright laws if I called it my own. The obvious mods are listed in a post below. The sleeves are the same.

I believe I have already posted the stats, but here they are again:

• Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun, in Antique, approximately 4 balls.


• Needles: US 8 (5 mm)

Please do excuse the crappy shots. I couldn't wait for a better opportunity to take some pics, so I settled for this morning in my bedroom.


Yay for being done. Yay for being empowered to dig out some more UFOs and get 'em done!

It's beginning to look a lot like....

Christmas! I finally got off my ass and started my shopping. I came to a realization after pondering last year's "handmade holiday" frenzy that I wouldn't be trying to make gifts for everyone on my list this time. Sometimes it's just easier to spend money. Not to mention that knitting and painting and beadsmithing are all really hard to do with three kiddies to take care of.

Nevertheless, Christmas is already wearing me out. I keep telling myself, "just keep swimming, just keep swimming...."

However, I do have just a couple of projects to knock out and wrap before Christmas officially arrives.

I made Ysolda's Gretel, a fantastic knitted beret. I absolutely love the way it turned out. I don't really wear hats, but for this one, I'd make an exception. Here's a shot of her in progress:

I'm making a scarf to match and hopefully I'll have time to knock out another hat like this. It was so much fun to knit. In the essence of time and money, I just used some cheap acrylic I had in the stash. Lion Brand Vanna's Choice to be exact. I used just under one ball. Not bad - a $2.99 hat! It knit up pretty darn quick too. Really it was only about three nights of knitting until it was done.