Sweaters I've made in the last few years

I've been transferring pictures into my Flickr account and will post them as I go. These are all sweaters that I've made in the last few years. I'm currently working on a fair isle sweater for my partner Michael and I'll take some pictures of the progress I've made and post them soon. I realized when I started this post that I hardly ever wear any of my store bought sweaters anymore. I've been spoiled now by the luxurious yarns and fit of the ones I've hand knit.


This is a Lopi pattern that I fell in love with and I'd always wanted to make this kind of sweater. It is very comfortable, but it's made with Bershire Bulky wool and it has to be pretty cold to wear it. I wore it last year at SAFF and it was great since it was cold, windy and rainy when we were there. It was just perfect for the weather!


This is a sweater I made for the store Knitch last year. The pattern is from Men In Knits and knit with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky. It's such a yummy sweater to wear. I have had some pilling with this yarn, but it's not too bad and the pills are easy to remove. I've had a couple of people say to me they just didn't like it because it pilled too much for their taste. I think I can handle a few pills when it's such an incredibly lush yarn. A special thank you to Kim at Knitch for letting me keep the sweater as payment for doing the sample for her store. It is one of my favorites to wear.


This is a sweater from a few years ago. This is also the first one I made with yarn from Knitpicks. This is the andean silk in lettuce green. This was a "test of will" sweater since I had to rip out the entire front after I completed it the first time (it was about 6 inches too long). I learned the hard way to always check your progress and gauge. I also reworked the collar 2 times to get it to fit better. The first one was too loose and would stretch almost to the shoulder. I ended up going down 3 needle sizes to get the result I wanted. I got the pattern from a knitting magazine, but I don't remember which one. I think it was Cast On, but I'm not sure.


I so enjoyed using the andean silk yarn that I bought more in the tide pool blue and made this blue cable sweater. This pattern is also from Men in Knits. I love this book. It has several really great sweater designs and I'm sure I'll be making more from this book. If you need a good book of men's patterns, this one is definitely at the top of my list.

This is the infamous Lady Eleanor shawl from Scarf Style that went through the Atlanta Knitting Guild like wildfire. Karen Roman is responsible for getting Steve, Lou and I hooked. She came to a guild meeting with the one she was working on in Noro in earth tones. This one is made with Noro Silk Garden. It was a great pattern to learn entrelac with and the Noro is perfectly suited to entrelac. The instructions are very clear and easy to follow. The big question going around was "Do you turn every round or knit back backwards?" I found it easier for me to just turn every round. Maybe I was just resistant to learning to knit back backwards, but I tried and my tension looked awful and uneven. This was 12 skeins of yarns.
This was a gift for my Mom in Texas. She belongs to a Red Hat Ladies group and I thought this would compliment her outfit if she needed a wrap to wear in the winter.

Last night was our first in the last week that the temperature in our apartment wasn't almost 90 degrees. Since it was overcast most of the day, it was in the 80's. We live in a converted attic apartment with minimal insulation and an ancient AC unit that runs all day long. Luckily, we don't pay for our own utilities, it is included in our rent, but when it gets this hot it doesn't cool down 'til almost midnight! We are hoping the AC will just break soon so the landlord will have to replace it. Is it tacky to ask for people to wish us luck to have it break?!