FO Post: Central Park Hoodie

At long last! My Central Park Hoodie FO post! Actually, because I was running out of yarn and omitted the hood, and because I live a couple blocks from Balboa Park, I christened my version the Balboa Park Hoodless. Kinda catchy, no?

The Details:
Pattern: Central Park Hoodie, by Heather Lodinsky
Yarn: Filtes King Extra Stampato in Olive, 15 balls
Needle: Addi Turbo sizes 7 and 9
Size: 36"
Mods: No hood, added length to sleeves and torso

It only took me a week to knit up all the pieces for this sweater, but then I had to head out of town for Christmas. Once I got back, I blocked the pieces and seamed them up but realized I didn't have enough yarn to finish the sweater as written. I knit the button bands and then picked up stitches all the way around the neckline and knit in 2x2 ribbing for 9 inches or so.

I probably could have gotten away with a hood if my swatch hadn't lied. The swatch didn't grow much when I blocked it, but man! Those sweater pieces grew like you wouldn't believe! It was all I could do to pat them back into the size they were supposed to be when I was blocking them. Each piece had easily stretched out about 6" longer than it should have been. This is some stretchy-ass yarn! I bought it from one of Elann's closeout thingies and I was really nervous about how it would turn out. (But really, at ~$30 for an entire sweater? It was a risk I was willing to take.) It's a strange sort of 8 (10?)-ply merino yarn in which half of the plies are the main olive color, and the other half are a variegated mix of oranges, whites, yellows, blues and greens. It could either blend together really well, or it could end up looking like a circus. You can see the detail of the yarn best in the collar pics. Bottom line though, this yarn is quite soft and squooshy. I can easily see myself grabbing this sweater to go run errands around the neighborhood, and I actually think that having no hood makes it a bit more wearable (for me).

I'm not too sure how many opportunities I will have to wear this sweater though. There I was out in Balboa Park in the middle of January and I was SWEATING BUCKETS! I'm still not used to the weather down here. It's like we're stuck in some timeless paradise while the rest of the country is dealing with snowstorms and power outages and the like. There were actually butterflies flitting all over the valley behind me. Butterflies in January?!? Dude, I am so not a Californian (yet). I made sure The Brain got some of the palm trees in the picture. Please excuse my smile/sneer. There is a reason I'm not a model (aside from the obvious people, please). Also, the bangs are a recent and impulsive acquisition and I'm not quite sure I can rock the look. My hair is just too fine to pull off a nice thick fringe, and without it I feel like I'm back in high school circa 1994. But you're here to see the sweater, not criticize the model, right? (Who am I kidding? We all do it.)

Oh yeah, one other thing: the sleeves do seem a bit snug, just like gloriana pointed out in her blog. I hadn't realized this was a common problem until after the sweater was finished. Good thing the yarn is so stretchy! It really is quite comfy all around. :)