A House!

Many of you who know me in real life know that WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! Tomorrow is closing, and we are moving in beginning at the end of this week. Yay, massive debt!

If you've been reading along dillgently, you know that I had a lot of plans for my new house, mostly in terms of paint colors. Much to my surprise we found a house that was already painted the exact colors I would have painted it. (Well, the dining area is only yellow, not yellow and teal. But, I'm sure I can find something teal to put in there.) There is not a white wall in the entire house! I'm planning on posting pictures as we get set up and I embark on the many projects that are already brewing in my mind, but I know you want a hint:

Trust me, it'll be more exciting this way. For a while now I have been keeping an inspiration file on my computer, where I save any images I come across that seem worth copying. I'm using this as I scheme. Apparently I like lots of colors, stick trees with few leaves, and collections of small things. Good to know!

February Lady Sweater (in May)

When was the last time I finished a sweater? (I don't know either.) But my February Lady Sweater is finished!! I started it in January, but quickly got bored knitting the same lace repeat for what seemed like forever.

This was essentially my first lace project, and it wasn't nearly as bad as I had imagined. I think it helped that the pattern repeats were short and it was easy to see where I was in a repeat based on the row beneath. It has given me the confidence to knit something more lacy (I even prepared for that by buying some silk/merino fingering weight wool at Maryland Sheep and Wool this past weekend. And it's red.)

I'm really happy with how this sweater turned out. It fits me near perfectly, and isn't too short, like most of my knitted sweaters. The only modification I made from the pattern is decreasing 7 stitches on each sleeve (after picking up along the arm hole, as the pattern tells you to do) in order to make the sleeves more fitted - and I'm glad I did it. I used Knitpicks Swish (superwash wool) and size 8 needles. I made the smallest size, but I don't know how much yarn I used. It was something like 750-850 yards.

Cat approves.