Sorry to send so many of you off to get your eyes checked – I was really excited to have finished (including some steam blocking) and wanted to share but didn’t have time to goof around with the timer and all. Thanks for all your kinds words!

Here’s the sweater in action. (Ignore my red eyes. Me fixing red-eye results in eyes that look like bottomless pits. Trust me that the red-eye is better.)

Besides providing evidence of Chaos’ evil nature (the glow! the glow!), it should also give you a better idea of what a big cat he is. (He’s not fat, either.) This monster can handily fish things off the counter when he stands on his hind legs. But I digress. Back to the sweater…

It’s not easy to take a good photo of a black sweater that’s 50% silk – very reflective. What you can see in the picture below is that there were definite color differences between the skeins. It’s much less pronounced when I’m wearing it (and not being photographed). I didn’t knit from two skeins at once because that’s just such a drag to do when knitting in the round.

Pattern: Hourglass Sweater from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts

Yarn: Brooks Fiber Farm Four Play (50 silk/50 wool)

Modifications: As part of my training, I gathered advice from others who had knit the sweater (let us pause and give thanks for Google). Based on my research, I added some short rows to the back of the neck and am very pleased with the results – no sweater strangulation. I also decreased the size of the neck opening. I’m not a fan of bell sleeves, so I completely redid the sleeves. Finally, since I hate sewing (and with tips from Jeanne), I picked up and knitted in the hems and the neck – which meant that this sweater required very little finishing.

Thoughts on the Result: I love this sweater! I already wore it to work today. Circular swatch notwithstanding, my gauge on the body was a little loose while my gauge on the sleeves was a little tight (my average gauge was perfect!). My sweater fits more loosely than many other Hourglass Sweaters I’ve seen, but I think it’s still very flattering.

Thoughts on the Knitting Olympic Experience: If I planned and prepped for all my major projects like I did for this one, I’m sure I’d have a lot more knitting success stories. I was also very surprised at how quickly I knit this. Had I truly applied myself, I would’ve been done last weekend. Because I apparently don’t have a good grasp of my knitting speed and skill, I didn’t select a sufficiently challenging project. That said, I think I’d rather be in the “pleasantly surprised” boat than in the “oh oh, I think we’re sinking!” boat.

If you’re wondering what those blobs are at the bottom of the picture… That’s my leftover yarn. I originally had five skeins. I purchased two extra skeins, just in case… and I so didn’t need them. Of the seven skeins, I have three full skeins remaining (plus that little bit on the right). So, just to finish off my Stashalong aspirations in fine fashion, I headed over and joined the Rockin’ Socks Club. Sorry, Kim…

Here’s my progress as of Monday evening – body done up to the armpits and first sleeve about 1/2 done. I’ll warn you that this is not a particularly photogenic project – look! Black blobs on the carpet… but wait? Where is the black blob? Hmmm…

The sleeve and I have have gone a few rounds of ripping. (Carole had warned me of hubris and offending the knitting gods in the comments on Sunday and she was so right.) I knew I didn’t want the bellshaped sleeves in the pattern, but I didn’t think through what I did want until I had cast on, sealed up the hem, and knit merrily away for a while. Finally, denial just didn’t cut it anymore. Rip rip rip, refigure the numbers, and off we went again.

Tonight I go home and take a hard look at the gauge on that sleeve compared to the body gauge… I’m thinking that, because knitting the sleeve is sort of like knitting a sock and I knit my socks tightly, my gauge on the sleeve is too tight. It might be mandatory that I drink wine while knitting the sleeves – what do you think?

Oh, I tracked down that missing blob:

Jeanne has posted her pictures from Friday night! Head on over and check them out for a slightly different perspective on the evening – or if you’re morbidly curious what I look like when slightly tipsy and being menaced by the Bugman.

First, the minor setbacks of yesterday. I briefly left my Olympic knitting unattended and returned to find it partially off the needles. Hmm. A puzzle. I wonder how that happened. No culprit was in sight.

The sweater was easily returned to the needles. However, about 16 rows after changing to a new ball of yarn, I discovered that the extra skeins of yarn I ordered are nowhere near being the same dyelot as my originals. A dark and dramatic line was readily apparent. Argh. So I ripped back to where I’d added the new ball (losing about 2800 stitches in the process) and switched to one of my original skeins.

In the process of removing the sweater from the needles, I learned the source of a mysterious “drag” on the cable of my circular needle – some small nicks, similar to what one would expect from sharp little fangs. Hmm. A bit of work with some buffing emery boards took care of that.

But… Here it is, nearly Day 3 (I’m not even 48 hours into this) and… I’ve reached the armpits of the sweater. I’m about to start knitting the first sleeve. Oh oh. It appears that I’ve radically underestimated the time it would take me to knit this sweater.