Happy New Year

Woohoo! Another low-key holiday here. That's all right...plenty of quality knitting time and a chance to catch up on the unwatched flicks from my DVD subscription.

Progress on the Dollar and a Half Cardigan is not going well. I'm going to pause for a bit and think about what I need to do.

The problem is that even though I checked gauge and moved up a needle size before I started, it still isn't the size it should be! I even meticulously blocked it out to the proper dimensions, but no dice. I'll be lucky if I can get the thing on over my clothes once it's done.













I can't even get the edges to touch unless I pull on them. Push-up cardigan, anyone?

Even though I love the pattern, I would still be willing to finish up the sweater and give it to one of my sisters but they all have larger chests than I do so that wouldn't work.







I tried to get some side pictures so you can see the stitch detail. I really like the different sides of the sweater. You can also see, however, that the armholes are pretty tight and make the sweater pucker up.

*sigh*












This is going in the WIP basket for a while so I can take a break and decide how to proceed. I know that in the end I'll just knit up some sleeves and wear it but I just don't want to look at it right now.















To add insult to injury, my 19-year-old brother took up knitting this year and he just finished up his first sweater. It took him 3 weeks and it looks perfect.









On a more promising note, I whipped up another pair of fingerless gloves and a hat for my BIL's girlfriend as a late Christmas present. I used the same Berroco pattern as for my MIL's gloves, and I used a pattern I found online for the Banana Republic hat. I was using bulky yarn instead of super bulky so I had to modify the stitch count a bit, but it turned out fine. Now I just have to find a funky button for it and send it off to her.

Since many knit bloggers are making resolutions or plans for the new year, here are some of my own:

1) Make a sweater that actually fits, dammit!

2) Try out colorwork and fair isle. I tried out socks and they weren't for me--maybe I'll like these techniques better.

And...that's enough for now. I hope everyone has a safe and happy new year!