Cushing Isle

I have a new sweater and I'm so excited! Meet Cushing Isle.

The pattern is by Amy Herzog.  I do love her style and designs.  So many of them speak to me and quickly get added to my queue/wish list.

I bought the yarn for this sweater at the Make Wear Love Retreat last fall.  It is SuperBaa Worsted by Indigodragonfly and the color is In A World of Locked Rooms, The Man With the Key is King.

A couple notes to share about this sweater....

I did use the Custom Fit recipe for this sweater.  I think I may need to tweak my measurements a bit because I feel like it is a little big. I'll give it another wash and trip through the dryer to see if it snugs up a bit more before I decide.  This is a "relaxed fit" design and maybe I'm just happier with an "average" or "close" fit.  Only time will tell for certain, but in the meantime I've been wearing the living daylights out of it!  The yarn gets 2 big thumbs up.  Even with 6 or 7 wearings, the yarn is fuzzing a little bit, but it is not pilling.  It appears it's going to be a great all-purpose yarn.

The next note is that I learned the value of maintaining a clean edge!  I carried the patterning all the way to the edge, which meant that every 8 rows I had a cable cross at the edge.  Not sure what I was thinking other than "I'm so happy that this stitch pattern fits perfectly into the suggested number of stitches!"  Seaming was a little challenging with the cable cross.  Not impossible, but challenging.  Lesson learned.  I will now always be sure to have a knit stitch at each edge for easier seaming.

I found these really great buttons at my local yarn store to finish it off. Thanks Margot for the suggestion!  They are perfect with the stitch pattern!

I've finished swatching for my next sweater already and am ready to cast it on.  I'm also working on some socks.  I have a couple trips coming up over the next few weeks and want some easy portable projects to take with me.

Until next time, knit on my friends!

Ten on Tuesday

Ten on Tuesday

I love to read almost as much as I love to knit.  So when I saw that this week's Ten on Tuesday topic was the Last 10 Books You Read, I figured it was the perfect time to get back to blogging!  As coincidence would have it, I have read 10 books so far this year.  Here they are...

1. Blood Magick by Nora Roberts.  Completely predictable 3rd book of a trilogy, but I am a sucker for these.  Quick, easy read.
2. Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult. I enjoyed it more that I thought I would.
3. Until Tuesday: A Wounded Warrior and the Golden Retriever Who Saved Him by Luis Carlos Montalban.  One of the best books I've read this year!  It really touched me and brought about a increased appreciation for therapy animals and the humans they help.
4. Fall of Giants by Ken Follett.  I enjoyed it and especially enjoyed that it begins with WW1.
5. Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brount.  I was really kind of blah about this book.
6. Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline.  Loved it!  Beautiful story of a foster girl and an elderly women who was one of the children sent west on an orphan train.
7. Mightier Than the Sword by Jeffrey Archer.  This is book #5 in The Clifton Chronicles.  I bought this the day it came out and read it in 3 days.  I love this series!
8. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty.  Loved it!  I didn't guess correctly who died until it was revealed in the story.
9. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd. This was a re-read for me and I have to say I enjoyed it every bit as much the 2nd time as I did the first time I read it.  I highly recommend it. Bonus, the author is speaking next month nearby and my book club is going.  Field Trip!
10. Calling Me Home by Julie Kibler.  This was a beautiful story of interracial love and friendship.  Although it was at times predictable, it was still an enjoyable read.

There are a lot of great recommendations from this week's Ten on Tuesday participants.  Hop on over to Carole's Blog to check them out!