February Lady Sweater is finished

Another Christmas present is finished. This is the February Lady sweater (click on blog title for free pattern link) adapted from one of Elizabeth Zimmerman's patterns.It is knitted with 600 grams of Patons Diploma Aran and is actually a deeper shade of red than shown. Although it was photographed in daylight the weather is still so dull that the flash came on! I am not happy with the buttons but my niece can change those. I sewed them on as a temporary measure.

I do like the way the jacket is constructed, Worked neck down with very neat "raglan" shaping. I did, however, alter the sequence of my knitting. As you know I cannot knit free, I have to have a knitting needle firmly jammed under my right armpit so circular needles are a big no no for me. OK technically I can knit with them but my pace drops down to a snails pace and this jacket would have been an April birthday present instead of a Christmas one.

This means that instead being seam free my version is seamed under the sleeves as I knitted them first in the flat and then the body afterwards. I did have a minor disaster with the body when I got my needle stuck under my arm and lost a quarter of the stitches which meant unravelling a few rows stitch by stitch until I reached a completed lace pattern row. That slowed me down by an hour last night. One reason why I never knit a complicated lace pattern. No swallowtail shawls for me!

I do love the jacket and all the time I was knitting it I was thinking that maybe I would keep it for myself but when I tried it on I decided that the style was just not me. I do prefer a longer sleeve on my jackets.

I have put on quite a spurt during these last couple of days after a few days in the doldrums when I felt like I was not working hard enough. I have now started some dolly clothes so they should work up nice and fast for me.

My Tapestry Crochet book by Carol Norton arrived yesterday. I haven't really had time to read it and think that it will be more of an instruction manual for me rather than my actually making any of the bowls and bags in it. I must confess that either I have got a bad copy or my eyesight is fading. Can you see the reindeer in the graph photo? (I just checked my blog and actually the photo shows it clearer than the book does) I can see me having to amend that with coloured pens before I ever use it.

Today I am waiting in for the aerial installers to come and check over the alignment of my Sky dish. I lost more than half of the channels again last night and I can't blame the holly tree any more so maybe I do need the dish adjusting. I have contacted a local firm because I do try to use local wherever possible and also they are half the price that Sky quoted for the same job! I will be home a lot this Christmas so I want something that won't keep disappearing on me. At the moment I am paying for channels that I can't see half of the time. They are on in the daytime and off at night!