Central Park Hoodie

I'm an official member of CPH.
Name of Project: Central Park Hoodie by Heather Lodinsky
Yarn: Peace Fleece, color - Mir Atlantis Periwinkle
Yardage: 6 hanks for size 36
Needles: Size US 4 (3.5 mm) and US 6 (4.0 mm) Knit Picks circulars
Estimated Time to Complete Project: 2 months
Modifications: The first thing I changed was instead of working all of the pieces separately, I made the body all in one piece. Then I split off for the armholes and the fronts. I can't accurately describe all of the changes I made, since I veered off from the pattern somewhere. All I remember is noticing that the front cables weren't lining up with the ribbing, so I dropped them down to the ribbing and knitted them back up. It probably didn't save me a whole lot of time (as opposed to ripping it all back), but I just wanted to see if I could do it. It was kind of neat!

I worked the sleeves in the round on two circulars at the same time.

Here's what it looked like before the hood and button band.
I learned about button bands when I picked up the stitches for this. If you pick up in every stitch, then the button band will pucker and ruffle. The general rule of thumb is to pick up 2 stitches for every 3. If you want to be more specific, then you can use your gauge. If you have 5 stitches/inch and 7 rows/inch, then pick up 5 stitches for every 7.

And here it is before the sleeves.
One of the things I learned while doing this project was how hard it is to pick out buttons. I didn't realize that it was going to be so hard to make the decision. Many hours and opinions later, the silver ones won out.

It has been very convenient that I'm taking classes to make my Alpaca sweater at the same time I'm finishing my Central Park Hoodie. It's helped me learn a lot about the different ways to do things. I've found a wonderful (and patient) teacher whose helped me understand what the outcomes are, and has helped me learn a lot about sweater construction. I'm going to pick up for the sleeves and do a short row sleeve cap and work my way down to the wrists. It all works out on paper so I just have to get started.

Last Thursday was a momentous occasion down at the Grove. I got together with Cupcake and ItShe to celebrate Bobmas Eve, the anniversary of the start of Ravelry.com.

Here's the three of us, ItShe is in the middle. I think she thought she had cupcake in her teeth or something, but I don't know why. Cupcake made the best cupcakes ever. Here was mine.

Afterwards we went for pizza and beer. My kind of night!

New Project Excitment

I don't think I could officially call it "Startitis" but I sure am having fun with some new projects. Since I received my Socks that Rock shipment I've been carrying the project around in my purse and making good headway on it. This past weekend it was very rainy and cold here in Carlsbad, and everyone in my family was feeling a little under the weather. So we layed around and watched movies and I got to work on my Butterfly Shawl. It's all put together and I just have to weave in the loose ends and put the fringe on. It's just as beautiful as I had thought it would be and I'll take some pictures when the sun comes out.

With the Butterfly Shawl almost ready to wear, I decided it was a good time to do some swatching and cast-on for my Central Park Hoodie. I have done all of my pattern and yarn prep so I'm just waiting for my swatch to dry to get an accurate reading. I had to go down two needle sizes to get gauge and I'm not sure I like the drape on that small of a needle. It seems really stiff to me and I might need to adjust the pattern instead of the needle size to make it work. Which seems kind of exciting, so it'll be okay with me if I have to do that. I am a little concerned about which size I should make too. I could go with a 36 or 40 and of course my bust measurement is 38. So I'm thinking about just doing the 36 and making a bigger button band if needed.

The Six Sox Knitalong just posted their new pattern and it's called Big Basin socks. The pattern uses a sockitecture from Cat Bordhi's book New Pathways for Socknitters and they're really pretty. I'm excited to have these in my queue but won't start them until I finish my Serendipity socks and possibly finishing my Pomatomus socks. The Pomatomus socks aren't really a good traveling project because I lose my concentration easily when I'm out and about, and that doesn't work so well with this pattern. I need something that's not so pattern intense to carry in my purse. I don't really carry a purse anymore though. I decided that, instead of carrying three bags, I would carry one big tote bag. It's actually a bag that's made to carry a laptop in, but it's got three separate sections that are zippered close and work perfect for my purse/knitting/diaper bag. I'll never have to worry about being stuck somewhere without my knitting project again. Or diapers. That's important too.