The Dimetapp Sweater Is Done

It's done, finished, kaput! I love knitting with thin yarn and tiny needles, but there is something a bit masochistic about doing a whole sweater like that, even for a small person, like myself. There is a small shift in the sweater, so the yarn was not completely balanced. That is a little disappointing for a commercial yarn. But still, it's a gorgeous color, fits well and completely suits the use for which it was intended.

52 Books in 52 Weeks/Book 18: Sugar Cookie Murder, by Joanne Fluke. Despite the fact that someone gets murdered, this book, like all the other ones in this series, makes me smile. I'm not sure if it's that Fluke has the characters and the location down pat or what. Since I spent most of my childhood in Minnesota, I feel like I know each and every one of her characters personally and that I for sure have visited Lake Eden. I was a little surprised to finished this book so quickly, given it's size. Half of it are recipes for the dishes mentioned in the book. The big plus - there was one for Jello cake that replaces the one I lost three moves ago!

Dimetapp Sweater

I haven't posted much lately because I've been working diligently on this fingering/sock-weight sweater. I think the actual colorway is called Elderberry in the Wildefoot Luxury sock yarn, but I've re-named it Dimetapp. I think you spill Dimetapp on this and not have it show! Most of the sweater is made from re-cycled yarn as I made a sweater out this a couple years ago, but was not happy with how it turned out. As a result, I just didn't wear it. I still had a couple cones of it left so as I've run out of yarn I supplemented with the coned yarn. I purchased the yarn as seconds so there are some sections that are pretty thin. I may need to in after and reinforce them. Even so, with the change in design from the other one, I think I'll wear this much more than the earlier one.

Also, it's going to take over a mile of sock yarn for the Limenviolet Sock Yarn Marathon on Ravelry!

52 Books in 52 Weeks - Book 16: When the Astors Owned New York, by Justin Kaplan. I usually read a lot more non-fiction than I have this year. The advantage for fiction for me is that I can read it faster. Even so, I felt the need to turn back to non-fiction, at least for one book, and this one was no disappointment. I know very little about New York society in part because I never really cared. I live out in the middle of the Great Plains and the thought of regularly dressing up instead of wearing blue jeans makes me cringe. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I'd heard of all the fancy hotels in New York at the turn of the 20th century, but never realized how luxurious they really were or why they were that way. Very interesting read.

Book 17: The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers, by Lilian Jackson Braun. This was a recorded book read by George Guidall, one of my favorite readers. I'd read this entry in the The Cat Who series shortly after it came out a few years ago, but actually thought it was an earlier one in the series. I recently looked it up and found that it's the last that Braun has written. Given her age, one wonders if it is truly the last. As there are some catastrophic changes in Qwill's life in this one, so it seems to provide a turning so that someone else could take over the series and further develop some of the newer characters.

Misti Alpaca - Part II

I finished the Misti Alpaca sweater last night and here it is drying. The color is a little washed out from the previous photo. The earlier photo shows the correct colorway - the flash went off in this one and seemed to wash out some of the color. On the whole, I am pleased with it. It only took 3 skeins of the Misti Alpaca fingering/sock weight. The label gives the impression that it is machine washable. Fortunately, I read a post which stated it felts if machine washed, so I guess I'll be washing this by hand!

The 1300+ yards goes against my 12-3/4 miles of sock yarn in the Limenviolet Sock Yarn Marathon.

52 Books in 52 Weeks Challenge/Book 9: For some odd reason, I enjoy reading holiday books out of season. Further, it doesn't seem to matter which holiday. A Highland Christmas, by M.C. Beaton is one the entries in the Hamish Macbeth series. I enjoy Hamish Macbeth's pragmatism and he doesn't lose it during the Christmas season either. He is not a perfect character, however, which makes him all the more likeable. It ends on a happy note for all concerned.

February Lady Sweater

I recently signed up for a KAL (knit-a-long) on ravelry. I've always avoided knit-a-longs because I tend to get competitive and get mine done first! I don't know if I did this time or not, but it didn't take me very long to make this sweater. It's an enlarged version of a baby sweater designed by Elizabeth Zimmerman for the Knitter's Almanac (it's for February, hence the name). I used a merino, alpaca, cashmere blend I bought on sale at a yarn shop about 50 miles from here. It's nice and warm, which is a real plus because it snowing outside my window right now!