NaKniSweMo Success!

No photos yet--but both my Charcoal Cables project and my third (or is it fourth?) Thanksgiving dinner as hostess went very well.

The sweater, like the turkey leftovers, has made an appearance every day since it was finished--with a skirt for thanksgiving dinner, out for a small wee bout of Black Friday shopping, driving to Tacoma to visit out-of-town relatives on Saturday, and home again home again today.

There were pros and cons to choosing Pullover #28 (as Vogue Knitting so creatively named it) as my NaKniSweMo project

Pros:

1. bulky yarn & large gauge--3 st per inch
2. size 10.5 needles
3. interesting but not overly challenging pattern (thank goodness for the designer's presence on Ravelry, though, or I would have been stuck in a few places due to impenetrable VK pattern-speak and a few outright errors)
4. knitted completely in the round (sleeves, too) for minimal finishing

Cons:

1. 22-row cable pattern to read and (sort of) memorize
2. reverse-stockinette sleeves in-the-round meant lots of purling.
3. long sleeves and hood = more knitting than your average bulky pullover
4. single crochet around the neckline; not hard, but I don't actually know how to crochet.

All cons aside, I was amazed at how quickly this went--cast on on Nov 5, finished the crochet trim on Nov. 26. Interestingly, the crochet trim was very easy...in elementary school I once took a "mini-class" in crochet and that muscle memory just came flooding back. Kind of eerie, that is.

The only other concern I'd had was about the Wool-Ease Chunky yarn. We'll see how it wears, but the charcoal color is quite nice, it feels warm without being very heavy, and it steam-blocked just fine.

Pictures soon!