Past the point of no return

gauge swatch: feb. 2012

I have been knitting - and I'm finally past the point of no return.  I've come too far to turn back (not that I want to), but there isn't much to show yet.  I suppose that is what I get when I knit an adult sweater with sock yarn on little needles. 

I am happy with my process/progress however.  I knit up a gauge swatch.  And blocked it.  This helped immensely as I got an understanding of how the yarn would stretch out once blocked, and I could pick a needle and pattern size with some confidence.  And this time I am paying attention to my measurements - not the pattern sizing. 

I don't typically do this much planning with my knits, but when jumping on a train a long as this one it's helps to plan out the journey a bit in advance.  With kid knits you've got a relatively good chance that if it doesn't fit one little person in your life it will fit another, and if not another, then another in the future.  But adult knits...that's a whole different story.  And the time investment alone is enough to scare me into taking the extra hour to do the swatch and measurements.  I've been able to try the sweater on too, and it seems that it will fit!!  I'm not certain about the length or drape yet - those need to wait until after blocking.  But the color?!  I am smitten with this orange.

The body is complete, I'm working on the edging and then I have to wrestle through the sleeves.  But they are 3/4 length so shouldn't be too bad.
 

progress: mid-March

I hope to report back soon with a final pre- and post-blocking reveal.  I have always found those kind of photos helpful to see as a beginning knitter.  It gave me confidence that while what I appear to have is a big ball of scraggly knit fabric that flips and flops in all the wrong places, I actually have a masterpiece that just needs a little stretching.