Happiness Is...

A new nearly finished FO: Season of Darkness and Winter Light from Norsk Strikkedesign. I did not buy a kit and did not use the called for yarn. My Season was knit using Blackberry Ridge fingering weight yarn in taupe and dark brown for the body and Mostly Merino sport weight yarn for the edging. The brown colorwork part was knit on size 2 Addi's (3mm), the edging with size 5 Addis. This has been my first steeked project, and I will admit that I am still a little afraid of unravelling, even though all the steeked bits have been sewn over (either with hems or attaching edging to sleeves).

This piece has been knit off and on now for over a year. Initially I thought of it as a sweater, but now that it is finished I think it is more of a shrug. I wore it yesterday and thought about wearing it again today. It seems to be very warm, but I can't put a coat on over those huge sleeves, which means that it probably won't be worn much in the winter when I plan to go out.

I finished the knitting a month or so ago but hadn't bothered attaching the edging to the body (the blue to the brown) because I have to sew a velvet lining in under the edging parts. I had thought that this had to be done when the pieces were separate, but then I saw another blogger had attached the edging before putting in the lining. Seeing this spawned a long IM with K, and emails to her local sewing experts, which, when added to my impatience, resulted in putting the edging on without lining.

This isn't finished yet, though, because I am going to put the velvet lining in. I hope to beg or borrow access to a sewing machine for that. K tells me NOT to use the machine to attach the lining, but she also tells me that I have to hem the fabric before attaching the lining and I really don't want to make the hems by hand.

While happiness is being able to wear a new FO, joy is starting another sweater. I am now working on the Autumn Rose Sweater by Eunny Jang and, so far, am loving every stitch I make.