Slanting Coast

I have been dropping hints all week and now I can finally show you what I've had blocking on my porch -- my Rocky Coast Cardi

I cast this on back in December, then ripped it back and re-cast on in February.  I flew through the body and the first sleeve but then got distracted by other things, as I am wont to do.  For some reason on the plane home from our honeymoon I got a really strong urge to knit on a sweater, and so when we began unpacking our boxes this was the first item I went in search of.

I actually knit the second sleeve twice, forgetting that I had  chosen to eliminate the decreases for a more comfortable fit.  I also chose to knit the sleeves down to my wrist, rather than the three-quarter length shown in the pattern.  I have a habit of pulling my sleeves over the base of my palms, rather than pushing them up.

The final product took eight ounces less than two skeins of Miss Babs Yowza in the Russet colorway.  I was bad and did not alternate skeins, but so far I have not seen a perceptible difference.  Because the yarn is superwash it grows in length quite a bit when blocked.  The result is a longer more enveloping sweater that makes me miss university libraries and their freezing temperatures.

I know the sweater weight so specifically because I knit with the leftovers immediately after casting off.  This required a bit of math as I was unsure of my yardage.  Fortunately one of our wedding gifts was a digital scale and like the salad spinner I have co-opted it for my yarnie ways.

These are Slant, from Cookie A's brand new e-book Shape + Form.  One of the sweaters calls for Miss Babs Yowza, so she wrote this pattern for the leftovers.

I knit these in two and a half days -- and I was working too!  They were very easy to follow and the resulting mitts are absolutely lovely.  I may knit up several pairs to hand out as presents for Christmas this year.  That is, if I choose to knit for Christmas, which I keep promising myself I won't.

So there you have it.  Two FOs!  Now click on over to Tami's Amis for even more fibery goodness.