Yay Hooray! The Sweater! It is D-O-N-E!!!

Back in the spring, I went to Threadbear in Lansing for the "More Big Girl Knits" book launch. They had many of the garments from the book there to try on, and I fell in love with the Hot Cocoa Jacket, designed by Jordana Paige.  I decided to make it, and meant to have it done in time to wear at Rhinebeck. I could have done it, but I am such a procrastinator. When will I ever learn? It didn't help that I lost a month of knitting time right before Rhinebeck when I was messing around with the CRT contact lenses. Oh well, that's all water under the bridge. The sweater is done, only a month late. I sewed the button on yesterday and wore it last night to show off to my knitting buddies. It was met with rave reviews, and I was so happy to finally be able to wear it. It was COLD last night, and as I walked in from the parking lot I could tell it was keeping me toasty warm. But with that big open neckline, something was needed to go with it.

Here's what I came up with. This is a scarf I knit with yarn I spun about a year ago. It's the first project that I have knit for myself with my handspun. That makes it very special to me! I used all of the 4 oz. I had spun, with only a teeny tiny little ball left. The pattern is called Mariko,and it was designed by Joan at Heritage Spinning and Weaving. I'm not sure if the pattern is up for sale yet. I loved knitting it. Very easy to memorize and I think it was perfect for the yarn. I started the scarf last Thursday evening at our knit night, and I think I surprised a few of the gals when I walked in with it a mere week later, done, blocked, and around my neck. 

See more photos and information about both projects on my Ravelry pages. (Click up there at the top right)

Now I need to take a little knitting break and rest my hands. I figure between knitting the collar on the sweater on Friday, and knitting the full scarf, I knit almost 40,000 stitches this past week. Yes, that is the correct number of zeros....40 THOUSAND stitches. Yikes!