Image heavy to make up for my blogging failure

I am a bad blogger! Not only did I skip posting this weekend -- that's excusable, because I was really tired -- yesterday, I forgot to take a picture of Saturday's progress before I started knitting again. *hangs head in shame* I know, I know. I was doing so well, too!

But! All is not lost. I remember where I was at when I stopped Saturday night, and I'll explain both with words and a diagram.

First things first. Friday (Day 9) progress:

I completed the left front. There seems to be an error in the pattern. The armhole shaping seems to be on the wrong side. Either that, or I'm crazy. But I made it work (by following the armhole shpaing instructions for the right side), so even if I'm crazy, I'm obviously not THAT crazy.

Also, it's only the left front to people looking at it. It goes on the right side of the body. But that's not a problem, because the other side (what they have marked as "Right Front") is the opposite, so it works out fine.

Also on Friday, I knitted the first of two sleeves. I decided I'd go ahead and get the small stuff out of the way. It didn't take long at all, being very tiny and lacy.

Day 9 progress:





On Day 10 (Saturday) I didn't get much done. I was busy all day long, and only managed to snag some knitting time while I was in a pavilion at a public lake listening to 50s and 60s music. (My dad, who runs a karaoke and dj business, had to do a "sock hop" at Diamond Lake Resort.) But the thing didn't start until 7 p.m., so I didn't get to knit for long before it got too dark to see what I was doing. I started the second sleeve but didn't get too far. I might've kept going if I was knitting stockinette, but not lacy sleeves with shaping. Therefore, I stopped after the ribbing and half of one repeat of the lace pattern.

See? My stopping point is marked here. (Lovely little Paint diagram...)



I showed Dad's friend Dave the finished sleeve. He looked at it, then held it up to himself (upside down) like a fig leaf. Yep.

And, as you can tell, yesterday (Day 11) I finished that sleeve off. I also started the right front and got through the ribbing before I got too tired to continue.



So, to review, I have now completed the back, both sleeves, the drawstring, the left front and a small portion of the right front, all of which are shown here in this not-very-good, blurry, angled, too-bright picture that I worked hard to get (had to pick up the laptop and hold it in just the right spot, at just the right angle, while pushing the button):



(Back with drawstring threaded through it, "left" front, both sleeves and "right" front in progress)

I tried editing the picture with Picnik. I'm not sure how much it helped. I don't have Photoshop working on this computer yet. I turned the sharpness way up so you could at least see the laciness a little bit. It still kinda looks like crap, though, at least on this computer. I promise, the sweater looks MUCH better than the picture of the sweater does.

What all of this means is that once I finish this right front I'm working on, which shouldn't take long, all I have left to knit are the button bands. Then blocking, sewing, weaving in ends and possibly another blocking to make sure it looks as good as possible and it'll be ready for wear. Oh, and the neckline ribbing. I keep forgetting about that. It's only 2 rows, though.

The end is in sight!

-Amie