And the Winner Is....

My Eyelet Cardigan is finally done!

It's taken way too long. I started it back in the middle of June a few weeks after we got our kitten Macy, and I guess I underestimated the effect she would have on my knitting. I've had to work around her quite a bit, waiting until she's asleep or distracted to get a few rows in here and there. She's pretty much convinced that everything, and for that matter everyone in our house is here for her entertainment. My knitting in particular seems to fascinate her though: the yarn, the needles, the sweater that (to her) looks like a tangle of yarn just waiting to be attacked. It's been quite a battle, and she's a worthy adversary, but I have emerged triumphant.

Here are the specs on the sweater:

Yarn: 4 skeins Blue Skies Alpaca Dyed Cotton in periwinkle

100% cotton

150 yds/skein

Needles: size 7

Pattern: Eyelet Cardigan from Blue Skies Alpaca

This was a pretty fun knit, kitten wrangling aside. I'm really pleased with the fit. The only changes I made were to the ribbing. After reading the comments of others who've made it, I decided I liked the idea of the ribbing matching up with the eyelet/cable pattern. I adjusted the ribbing accordingly. (Thanks Ravelry!)

I think if I make this again, I'll skip doing the cuffs on the sleeves. They're just a little too heavy for this weight yarn, especially for a summery cotton sweater. The yarn feels nice and soft, but it's loosely plied, so I'm a little concerned about how it'll hold up. We'll see.

Oh and here's another little distraction I had acouple of weeks ago. I decided at the last minute to knit a little hat for a friend's baby shower. After looking at a few sample baby hats in my LYS and checking out some hats on Ravelry, I cast on and kind of made it up as I went. I used Tahki Cotton Classic in blueberry and bright teal, size 6 needles. It's a little puckered looking at the top where I did the decreases, but overall I think it turned out okay. It just took a couple of days. I had never used Cotton Classic before and I really like it. The color selection is amazing, and you've got to love a machine washable yarn.