I got the buttons on M’s cardigan Monday morning (after an 8 minute ride in the dryer). After getting M to try it on and declare his love for hand-knits, I prompty forgot about taking pictures. Until this morning when he was getting ready to leave.

Michael does not smile at 6:45 in the Morning.

I am very pleased with how this turned out! The crunchy Lamb’s Pride Superwash softens up during blocking to create a comfy fabric. I hope it wears well – I would really like to use this yarn again. While the cardigan turned out great, and looks like the picture, I think the designer could have done a better job with the instructions (Men’s V Neck Cardigan from Mari Sweaters). The pattern would be confusing for a knitter without prior Cardigan Experience: I often felt like I must be missing something and re-read the pattern looking for a piece of information that just wasn’t there. This alone isn’t enough to keep me from trying another of Mari’s designs (although when you combine it with the lack of a schematic and row counts instead of inches, I will think twice), the end result is a great looking sweater!

For Christmas ornaments this year, I chose to make the little stocking pattern from Oddball Knitting. With a couple changes.

The leg is only 14 rows long, the foot is 8 rows long and the cuff isn’t folded over. Since the white stuff is soooo fluffy (Caron’s Bliss), it’s easier (and neater) to knit the red part (Knitpicks’ Wool of the Andes) and then pick up around the cast on edge for the garter stitch cuff. There are six rows of garter stitch not counting the picked up row. If I make two stockings a day I should be finished by Thanksgiving. I think that’s reasonable, and it gives me time to work on other things. As long as they don’t require the #3 dpns.

Sunday and Monday.