The Half-Blood Poncho

After a whirlwind 10 days of devoted knitting, my sister's birthday poncho is finished:



I used about 3 1/2 skeins from Handpaintedyarn.com, in the "Lettuce Violet" colorway. (FYI: The yarn was more vivid than pictured online, but that's the gamble with a kettle-dyed product.) The pattern was free, courtesy of Lion Brand, but you have to be registered there in order to see it.

And why the title, you ask? Well, I was racking my brain, trying to figure out why the color scheme seemed so familiar, when the answer dawned...



Very fitting for these last few days of waiting for Book 7!

In less exciting news, I'm going to have to cool my knitting heels for a few weeks. There's a spot on my wall that's calling for a gigantic cross-stitch sampler. Hopefully, the knitting will forgive me upon my return. :)

Studious

After much procrastinating, the Back-to-School U-Neck Vest is complete! Woohoo, another wool sweater for scorching summer weather!



The Specs

Yarn: Cascade 220, in a russet-brown heather, under 3 skeins used for the 38" size
Pattern: Back-to-School U-Neck Vest, from Stefanie Japel's Fitted Knits
Needles: US7
Lessons Learned: The shaping created by the front darts is quite nice. I also *love* the look of the waffle stitch. But most importantly, I realized that I can't fully judge a project until all the design elements are in place. I put off the neck and arm edgings for weeks, because I thought the vest was looking silly on me. But once I buckled down and added on the edgings, it looked, well, complete. Brilliant insight, eh? :P I could have picked up more stitches around the neckline, but I'm happy with it as is.

ETA: I forgot to mention that the book's instructions for the dart increases (RLI and LLI) are really confusing, and are not even included with the vest! I came across them in the Alexandra pattern. Instead, I followed the instructions for "Raised (M1) Increases" from the glossary of the Summer 2006 IK -- same move, just described (and pictured) much more clearly.