A Long Time Coming

I have actually been spending some time in my sewing room!  Whoop!  But I can't share my sewing projects...yet!  I have been doing some 'gift sewing' and can't have it showing up on the 'interweb' before the recipients get a look.  How rude!  BUT, I can share something I am really excited about!!!

I finally finished a knitting project that started 4 years ago!  There aren't many projects that I will stick with that long.  But this one was worth it.  

It started with a trip to visit friends in Zionsville, Indiana.  It's a cute older town that kind of got swallowed up by the suburbs of Indianapolis.  My friend took me to a little yarn shop on their quaint downtown street.  Just the kind of place that draws you in and says, 'buy me!'  And of course I obliged.  They had a yarn made of a fiber I had never seen before...mink!  Yep, somebody spent time combing those cranky little critters and spun it into the softest yarn I have ever seen!  It was really, really soft and luscious.  And the colors were just as gorgeous as the yarn.  I had no plan, just knew I had to work with the stuff.




It was very fine so I chose a pale gray and a beige with the idea of working the two together as one yarn.  That was as much of a plan as I could manage at the time.  When I got the pile of yarn home I made several swatches and doodled dozens of designs...and then it was summer.  Who works on mink yarn in the summer?!

When the weather cooled off I pulled it out again and actually knitted a whole sleeve before I realized that it would probably fit King Kong.  That was the first 'unknitting' of the yarn.  I guess you probably have an idea now why it has been in the works for 4 years....OK, I won't bore you with a total blow by blow account, suffice it to say that there were several false starts and a few more summers before I made it to the finish line.  

When I bound off the last stitch I was kind of expecting fireworks or a cheering crowd, or at least an 'at-a-boy' from somebody, but I was all by myself and had to make due with a little private happy dance! (no, there is no video!🙈 )  But here are a few photos of my new mink cardigan sweater...

I designed the pattern myself (another reason for the false starts and extended time table!)  

I started at the cuffs, knit in the round increasing under the arm to the shoulder.  I then added stitches to make the side 'seam,' knitting up and over the shoulder until I got to the neck.  At that point I continued knitting the two separate pieces to the center back, crocheted them together and knitted the collar band.  When I bound off the last stitch I was done.  No Seams, only the beginning tails to work in.

Here are the two sleeves, ready to work the back section.

This is the cool center back seam that was done by crocheting the live stitches together.  I will definitely use this trick again on another project.

This little pile is all the yarn I had left when I finished.  I even had to take apart my gauge swatch to have enough yarn to finish the bind off.  Whew.

So, check another 'unfinished object' off the list!

The bad news is that the spring like February we have been enjoying is just about to go back to normal...the good news is...I have a very soft 'mink coat' to keep me cozy!