Me in Frost

It's been a hectic few weeks around here, and it's only now that I feel like I have any mojo to write a blog post. In quick summary: we're getting ready to move to another province, and life is full of all the things that come along with that. We've got dreams to chase and responsibilities to look after, and now is the time to take care of both.

My projects have been a great distraction to me during this time. When my brain was overwhelmed, I switched to yarn-mode and dreamed about my planned projects, colour-combinations, pattern details... a pleasure in the midst of a chaotic mind.

Completed last night: my sweater, which I call Frost Lily, based on Marnie McLean's Lily. I say "based on" because, while most of the details are the same, I wrangled with the pattern a lot to get this thing to fit me the way I wanted. This sweater spent a lot of time looking like this:

Modifications:

• longer, wider sleeves, to accomodate my hulking arms
• fewer decreases for the waist, because I am not the hourglass shape that this sweater seems to be designed for
• added length to the narrowest part of the body to accommodate my torso
• 2x2 ribbing at the bottom edge, arm cuffs, and neckline.

I found the instructions for the yoke really hard to understand, and it took me three times (read: ripped out three times) to get something I liked. I ditched the instructions to change the rate of decreases and just decreased the sleeve cap every other row and the body every third row until the neckline reached where I wanted it to. This helped to accommodate my wide shoulders as well.

In the end, I am very, very happy with it... but man, if there was a sweater to motivate me to keep the weight off, this is it! It was interesting to learn that 4.75 skeins of Cascade 220 is enough to make a sweater for me. I bet that if I used five, I could make a sweater and still eat a few cookies...

Mmm... cookies... snack time!