A New Record

I first of all want to thank everyone so much for all the great comments about the Urban Aran Half Zip. It's the most comments I've ever received on a post! I highly recommend the pattern booklet - all the designs in it are basic - very wearable, yet with a little style. This pattern in particular lends itself perfectly to many modifications - from the many cardi versions, to my half zip. I also love the fact that it looks great either very fitted, or with some ease, depending on what you like. All around, it's a great pattern! The sweater will be worn quite a bit (once they finish fixing my heating system at work - I went from wearing gloves to wearing t-shirts!) and is destined to become a favorite.

With the Aldebran sock still in the development stages, (it is KILLING me not to have a sock on the needles right now!!!) I dove right into my next sweater project. I didn't have to look far - it's from the same Street Smart booklet! It is the hoodie pictured on the cover:

I have a stash of K1C2 Angora Soft I got for a steal at Webs last year. The color is a perfect match for this first installment of Project Spectrum - the blue, grey and white months. The official color is "Soft Turquoise" but it to me is more of a light blue (not really any green tones that turquoise usually has). The yarn isn't as lofty as wool, but the cables are showing up just fine.

I am just about done with the first arm. All the increases are done, and I just have to do the shaping. Because the yarn isn't very lofty and pretty dense, the bobbles aren't the greatest (plus it's my first time doing them!) The yarn does bloom a little after a soak, so blocking will even out a lot of the stitches.

Running out of yarn should not be a concern on this project - I have 20 skeins! In the end, I will probably have enough for a scarf or something also.

After the success of the modification of the Urban Aran, I am thinking of changing this one up a bit too. The yarn is super, super (did I say super?) soft - it would almost be a shame not to wear it against the skin. I'm not sure a cardi is what I want. So, I may just make it into a pullover hoodie - knit both the fronts together as one piece. I'm not quite sure yet. The yarn is, like I mentioned above, a bit dense and heavy, so installing a zipper may weigh down the front even more. I plan on doing both sleeves and the back before deciding.

Did I mention I'm going through sock knitting withdrawals? I may have to start one just to have one to knit while I'm working on the pattern mods for Aldebaran!