At the end of July, I posted about a sweater I was starting to design for my Maggie, the working title of which is “the Netflix Sweater”. The yarn has come in … Knit Picks’ Brava Bulky (an acrylic/wool blend that is washable) in “wine”. Here’s the list of what Maggie wanted in her sweater:

• fingertip length so about 5 inches below her hipbone
• thick but not heavy
• plain but cuddly (so no heavy cabling, colorwork, etc but instead a cushy stitch like broken rib or fisherman’s rib)
• collared … like a shawl collar “not anything stuffy, fussy, or turtle-necky”
• buttoning with 3 big buttons just near the bottom
• big pockets for hands … tissues … food

So far so good.

I have the yarn, which arrived on Wednesday … but I didn’t have time to cast on until Friday evening! But that’s ok as I wanted to finish the vest shown below AND I wanted to start planning out exactly what I was going to do …

Here’s my progress so far:

The Brava knits up quickly … and the broken-rib pattern makes the sweater cushy and adds a bit of interest. I left the raglan lines in stockinette. The benefit from starting from the top is I can make it as long as I want. Which is why I stopped working on the body (slipping the lives sts to hold) and am doing the sleeves first. They are extra long because Maggie wants to be able to roll them … or pull them over her hands. I’ll then start back on the body till it’s about waist length (wherever the skein finishes) and then I’ll add the collar (short-rowed to be uber cuddly and soft when the sweater is wrapped closed). I then will continue the body until the yarn runs out or it’s long enough for Maggie.

In that post from July 29th I mentioned a vest that I was starting but I wasn’t sure if I would have enough of yarn. Well … I did. And here is my Mineville Wool Project yarn vest:

I am calling this design “Nova Scotia Sunset vest”, since Catie brought me the gorgeous yarn from her trip to Nova Scotia early this summer. The vest used all but about a yard of the 328 yard skein … and the construction allowed me to maximize the yarn and make an attractive and yet practical garment for the Fall/Winter/Early Spring! A definite win … and a really fun project to design and knit.

How is your knitting going? What project are you working on or have you just finished?

and always remember to enjoy the journey!